Child Care Now launches campaign to support $10aDay program in the face of electoral uncertainty
Child Care Now is calling on candidates and voters in the federal election to Stand on Guard for Child Care in face of uncertainty around Canada’s new $10aDay program.
The campaign is aimed ensuring that all political parties and whoever wins the election support and strengthen the program, according to Child Care Now’s Executive Director, Morna Ballantyne.
“In turbulent times the economic benefits of expanding publicly funded and managed system of child care are magnified,” she explained. “Parents can better manage job dislocation when they have access to affordable child care, and also an expanded child care sector will add badly-needed Made-in Canada jobs to our economy.”
The federal child care program, launched in 2021 in partnership with Canada’s provincial and territorial governments, has made licensed child care affordable for hundreds of thousands of parents, and it promises to make low-fee child care universally available to all families over time.
“To cut or damage the program now would be catastrophic and grossly unfair,” she added.
Ballantyne said the $10aDay child care is public infrastructure that is critical to Canada’s defence against the US government’s attack on our economy and way of life.
Reported research by economist Jim Stanford notes the child care sector has been the sixth largest source of new work in Canada since 2019.
In 2024, the sector contributed $32 billion in additional GDP to Canada from the combination of direct employment and activity, indirect spin-off jobs, and because the $10aDay child care program serves as a bridge to increased female labour participation.
Stanford found that the expansion of ELCC services because of federal investments in the sector likely prevented Canada from experiencing a “technical recession” in the second half of 2023.
Child Care Now is calling on all who are concerned about the future of Canada and the wellbeing of communities to stand on guard for child care by