The splashiest policy contained within the federal budget of last week was a plan for a national childcare program to be implemented in conjunction with the provinces. The fruition of a Liberal promise many decades in the making, this would establish a universal, $10-a-day system, intended to support families as they recover from the pandemic and enable mothers to earlier and more easily enter the workforce. The cost of this program is slated to be $30 billion over the next five years, and then $8 billion per year following.
But what would this plan actually entail? What are the potential costs and drawbacks? Is it a workable solution given the federal-provincial coordination required? Or, a more pressing question yet, is it even desirable — are there better, more effective and more flexible ways to support women and children and enhance economic growth than what the Liberals have proposed?
The Macdonald-Laurier Institute hosted a livestream to discuss. Aaron Wudrick, director of domestic policy at MLI, moderated the panel and was joined by MLI distinguished fellow Jack Mintz and policy analyst Paige MacPherson.
“I think we need to be careful that we are not just social-engineering women towards certain choices,” MacPherson says, “ Any sort of childcare policy, in my mind, that is the best kind of policy is one that is flexible and puts parents in the driver’s seat with the ability to make their own choices for their own families.”
