This document discusses the costs of childcare in Canada and different policy approaches. It provides background on childcare expenses and costs across major urban areas. It also outlines Quebec's subsidized daycare model, the federal government's role in funding childcare through transfers to provinces, and issues with the current systems around oversight and affordability. Different political party platforms related to childcare are examined, including the Trudeau government's funding commitments and an analysis of establishing a national daycare program.

1. Child Care and Daycare Costs –
Affordability - Canada
Paul Young CPA CGA
August 16, 2021

2. Paul Young - Bio
• CPA, CGA
• Academia (PF1, FA4, FN2, MU1. and MS2)
• SME – Risk Management
• SME – Close, Consolidate and Reporting
• SME – Public Policy
• SME – Emerging Technology
• SME – Business Process Change
• SME – Financial Solutions
• SME – Macro/Micro Indicators
• SME – Supply Chain Management
• SME – Data, AI, Security, and Platform
• SME – Internal Controls and Auditing
Contact information email: Paul_Young_CGA@hotmail.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-young-055632b/
SlideShare - https://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga
Twitter: https://twitter.com/paulyoungcpa
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/user/youngercga1968/videos

3. Agenda
• What are Child Care Expenses?
• Child Care expenses / major urban areas
• Quebec Daycare Model
• Federal Government role /Transfers
• Equalization formula / PQ
• Issues with Child Care
• NDP and Childcare
• Trudeau daycare funding / 2019 Election
• Fiscal Update/Daycare costs

4. Child Care Expenses
• Child care expenses are amounts you or another person paid to have someone look after an
eligible child so that you or the other person could:
• earn income from employment
• carry on a business either alone or as an active partner
• Attend school under the conditions identified under Educational program
• Carry on research or similar work, for which you or the other person received a gran
The child must have lived with you or the other person when the expense was incurred for the expense to
qualify. Usually, you can only deduct payments for services provided in Canada by a Canadian resident. Read
Other situations for exceptions
Source - https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/topics/about-
your-tax-return/tax-return/completing-a-tax-return/deductions-credits-expenses/line-214-
child-care-expenses/line-214-what-child-care-expenses.html

5. Child Care
Expenses / Canada
Source -
https://globalnews.ca/news/509725
4/canada-affordable-child-care-
world/beta/?utm_expid=.kz0UD5JkQ
OCo6yMqxGqECg.1&utm_referrer=ht
tps%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
or
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/
childcare-costs-canada-1.5008106

6. Quebec Daycare model
Source – Fraser Institute

7. Federal government
provides transfers to the
provinces
Canadian Social Transfers and Equalization
transfers

8. Equalization / PQ
Source - https://montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/equalization-is-part-of-the-original-deal-and-quebec-will-fight-to-keep-it-says-premier-legault

9. Issues with Child Care
• Auditor – City of Ottawa “"Major lapses" in the administration of child-care subsidies
to Ottawa families costs the city more than $1.5 million per year and prevents some
families from accessing affordable care for their kids, according to auditor general Ken
Hughes. The city is supposed to review a family's eligibility for a child-care subsidy at least
once per year. But the reviews were halted in 2014 and only resumed in 2016, leaving a
backlog of 2,810 cases. ”Source -
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/mismanagement-child-care-subsidies-costing-
city-audit-1.4426337
• Lack of inspection when it comes to daycare facilities -
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/12/09/auditor_general_raps_liberal_govern
ment_for_tardy_daycare_inspections.html
• Ontario implemented a very costly full-day kindergarten model -
https://www.thespec.com/news-story/2233690-drummond-report-recommends-sweeping-
education-reforms/ (This was liberal way of handling child care)

10. NDP and Childcare
•
• http://findingqualitychildcare.ca/who-is-responsible
• Mulcair Daycare Policy
• http://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/tom-mulcair-on-the-details-of-the-ndps-child-care-policy
• FYI – Mulcair estimates 70,000 people will return to work. If so, where is his analysis/risk management impact from his tax policies
- http://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/mulcair-vs-harper? Mulcair’s only focus is on small business - http://www.cme-
mec.ca/?lid=JCKNC-E742G-1W6JA&comaction=show&cid=HRH7K-9UE34-ACUS8. http://canadianentrepreneurtraining.com/six-
statistics-about-small-business-and-entrepreneurship-in-canada/. Typically small businesses pay less money than medium to large
business. So, why does Mulcair never discuss salaries issues? It seems to me that like all Mulcair policies that he inflates the number
like he did with the federal minimum wage numbers, right? http://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/federal-minimum-wage-
canada
• Canada Social Transfer Programs
• The Federal government provides transfer as part of the social transfer agreements between the federal government and the
provinces - http://www.fin.gc.ca/fedprov/cst-eng.asp
•
• Funding
• http://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/provincial-transfers-and-program-spending or http://www.fin.gc.ca/access/fedprov-
eng.asp#Major
• Harper formed his first government February 6, 2006 as such transfers were 8.4B to the provinces for CST. Harper continued to fund CST as such
the amount close to 13B.
• The average cost of subsidized daycare is $23/day - http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/the-child-care-conundrum-part-3-who-will-pay-
and-how-much-for-universal-day-care.
• Mulcair wants to use the Quebec model, but it has been a failure - http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=5a5e1555-093f-4959-9395-
028c36daadc7&p=2
• Auditor General of Ontario Report - http://www.auditor.on.ca/en/reports_en/en14/302en14.pdf

11. Trudeau and Daycare
Source - https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/trudeau-doug-
ford_ca_5d7fba58e4b03b5fc887711d
• Trudeau is getting throwing money at the
symptoms by calling out Ford
• There have been issues with delivering of
healthcare dollars including proper
oversight
• All levels of government are involved as
part of delivery healthcare
• Eligibility of daycare has come into
question (lack of oversight)
• PQ gets the lion share of equalization
despite have a strong economy and
budget surplus -
https://ca.reuters.com/article/domestic
News/idCAKBN1O226A-OCADN
• Many provinces are struggling with fiscal
management
• Liberals never discuss efficient
government, because they do not operate
an efficient government -
https://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcg
a/2019-election-public-sector-efficiency-
canada-july-2019

12. National Daycare
• 1993 National Daycare Promise - https://childcarecanada.org/documents/child-care-
news/20/02/promises-promises-%E2%80%93-history-federal-childcare-proposals
In 1987, following the publication of the Cooke report, the (then-Conservative) government established a Special Parliamentary Committee
on Child Care. The submission by the Canadian Day Care Advocacy Association CDCAA) to the Committee argued against deregulating the
system and offered recommendations for future childcare policy. Other briefs included one from the Ontario Federation of Labor. The all-
party committee couldn’t agree how to proceed and each party released their own report. The Conservative majority suggested tax breaks,
incentives for businesses to create childcare spaces in workplaces, and money handed out to for-profit centers. This approach was
criticized by a range of organizations and the proposed legislation died on the order paper when the 1988 election was called.
3… The 1993 Liberal platform “Red Book” promised a shared-cost national program. The proposal was to split payment between the federal
government (40%), and the provinces (20%), with parents paying the remaining 20% (on a sliding scale). The platform promised 150,000
“new, quality” childcare spaces and incentives to businesses for workplace child care. Yet, although the Liberals were elected, their child
care promise was ignored and a national program was never implemented despite the Liberals holding power until the early 2000s.
2… In 2004, the (still-Liberal) federal government headed by Paul Martin promised to spend $5 billion on a child care program that would be
developed with the provinces. After failing to negotiate a multilateral agreement, separate bilateral agreements were reached. However, a
non-confidence motion toppled the minority government the following year before the programs could be implemented. The government
changed from Liberal to Conservative and the incoming government acted on their campaign promise and cancelled both the agreements
and federal funding.
1… In 2015, the Liberals pledged to create a “national framework” that would make sure “affordable, high-quality, fully inclusive child
care” is available to everyone who needs it. Once elected, however, the multilateral deal on childcare that they signed with all provinces
and territories (except Quebec) stopped far short of setting out a national framework, instead leaving provinces and territories largely in
control of how to spend the $7.5 billion over 11 years that was committed to child care in the 2017 federal budget.

13. Fiscal Update – November 30, 2020
Scotiabank economists Jean-Francois Perrault and Rebekah Young suggested in September that
creating nationally what Quebec has provincially would cost $11.5 billion a year.
Source - https://globalnews.ca/news/7483087/national-child-care-system-canada-report/
• Canada was running a structural deficit
$13.9B deficit for FY 2018-2019
• Provinces would have to match/support
childcare spending – 2015 -
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/provinces-
territories-spend-more-than-4-2b-on-
childcare-report-1.2608572?cache=vlsazdwnr
or https://www.newswire.ca/news-
releases/the-government-of-canada-and-the-
government-of-ontario-announce-additional-
support-for-quality-early-learning-and-child-
care-across-the-province-843088071.html
• Canada needs to reform their tax policies,
i.e. tax act, closing down tax havens -
https://www2.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/
does-the-world-need-a-wealth-tax

14. Path Forward
Source - https://economics.bmo.com/en/publications/detail/4eaa72b1-7c11-45d3-927a-cc2227536362/
• Where are the Liberals going to get the money to support their new programs?
• Source - https://www2.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/fiscal-management-cycle-canada-
fiscal-update-ecomomic-and-fiscal-management

15. Child Care – OECD
Source -
https://data.oecd.org/benwage/net-
childcare-costs.htm

16. Childcare subsidies
Source -
https://troymedia.com/politicslaw/child-
care-subsidies-wont-stimulate-the-
economy/#.YRsDqt8pBPY

17. Summary
• People should have choice on how they pay for childcare
• Canada has a job quality issue - https://www2.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/gdp-and-
fiscal-management-canada-september-2020
• The government childcare program requires a properly costed and funded
• Government had a structural deficit of $14B in 2019 before COVID19 -
https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/services/publications/annual-
financial-report/2019/report.html
• It is private sector that drives growth. The government needs to do more to support
getting goods to market - https://www2.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/getting-goods-
to-market-what-needs-to-happen-by-all-levels-of-government