Canada Approves Subsidised Child-care Deal

Canada has approved a landmark plan for subsidised $8 per day of child care. The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau has said that his liberal government has now delivered one of its key economic promises after striking a deal with Canada’s largest province, Ontario.

Now, Canada is on the path to delivering child care to parents at a cost of 10 Canadian dollars, equivalent to $8 per child. Earlier, the other nine Canadian provinces have reached their own deals with childcare subsidies. The provinces will get tens of billions of dollars from the federal government to help reduce fees paid by parents, build more spaces and increases pay for childcare workers. 

The government of Canada is planning to reduce child-are fees by half before the end of 2022, along with providing regional governments with the money necessary to build 250,000 licensed new spaces all across the country. 

Biden Administration in the USA has also made affordable child care a priority, arguing the lack of child-care options costs the US economy $57 billion a year in lost earnings, productivity and revenue. 

President Biden has promised to reintroduce measures to cut by half the cost of child care for families during this month’s State of Union address. 

Economists at the Royal Bank of Canada has said in an issued report that Canada-wide affordable child care is a powerful step toward closing wage and participation gaps. The report also said that women with children under age 6 earned 70 cents for every dollar earned by fathers with children the same age.