Comments on: Code blue for daycare

By: Edward Green

Edward Green — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 01:03:55 +0000

Hi, Do what I did and start your own Daycare, see your kids grow up and earn some decent money at the same time.
http://www.startingachilddaycare.com/

By: Edward Green

Edward Green — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 01:03:55 +0000

Hi, Do what I did and start your own Daycare, see your kids grow up and earn some decent money at the same time.
http://www.startingachilddaycare.com/

By: jen

jen — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 21:01:54 +0000

amen. it’s one of the things, IMO, that contributes to homelessness in single parent/low income families.
it’s time for more than lip service by our collective governments. it’s time to do the right thing for families and the kids living in them.

By: jen

jen — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 21:01:54 +0000

By: cheryl

cheryl — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 22:02:17 +0000

Just happened upon this post as I was pondering what to do about my own daycare situation.
My son is actually in an excellent local daycare centre. Problem is, I’m expecting another child. The only hope I have of getting a spot for the next child is keeping my son in daycare while I am on mat leave (which will be expensive). If a child doesn’t already have a sibling in the daycare, the waiting list for infant spots is now 2 years.
Then, when I do have both children in daycare, the cost will be, oh, some $2200 a month as far as I can see.
I find Harper’s $100 month so, so insulting. And useless.

By: cheryl

cheryl — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 22:02:17 +0000

By: alison

alison — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 19:29:43 +0000

Just apropos of nothing, did you know that when you rearrange the letters in Stephen Harper’s name, you get “Panther Herpes”? Seriously.

By: alison

alison — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 19:29:43 +0000

Just apropos of nothing, did you know that when you rearrange the letters in Stephen Harper’s name, you get “Panther Herpes”? Seriously.

By: DaniGirl

DaniGirl — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 18:21:35 +0000

Seriously? I love you guys. I love what everybody brings to the table, I love how you are all different, I love how you can disagree respectfully. I even love the economics lesson!
But I still think Harper is duplicitous to claim a victory for child care, I think his policies are ‘family friendly’ only to traditional one-income, two parent families, and I think I will probably have a lot more ranting to do on this subject.

By: DaniGirl

DaniGirl — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 18:21:35 +0000

By: Kerry

Kerry — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 09:05:38 +0000

I was serious about drawing out the supply/demand curves, by the way. It helps to illustrate the point.

By: Kerry

Kerry — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 09:05:38 +0000

I was serious about drawing out the supply/demand curves, by the way. It helps to illustrate the point.

By: Kerry

Kerry — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 09:02:25 +0000

Economics and political science 101, by Kerry.
Grab a pen and a piece of paper. Draw an x and a y axis on the paper, with the vertical line (labelled P) really close to the left of the horizontal line (labelled Q). Draw one line from near the top of the vertical line down and to the right so it’s out near the end of the horizontal line, and put a D at the bottom. Draw another line from near the bottom of the vertical line out past the intersection with the D line, and label it S.
Draw a dotted line from the point where the two lines intersect to the vertical line, and label that $10.
Pick a point halfway between $10 and the intersection of the vertical and horizontal lines, and draw a dotted line from $5 out to the right, so that it passes in a horizontal manner through the D and the S lines.
This is the essential problem with regulated, fixed price day care (as proposed by the former liberal government). The first intersection of $5 is with the S line: this is how much day care suppliers are willing to offer at a price of $5. But at that price, parents want a much higher Q (quantity). Until the price moves up to $10, supply will never meet demand.
The government can provide incentives to stimulate more suppliers to offer more spaces, that will bring the number of available spaces closer to the optimum, but until there is an equilibrium between supply and demand, you will always have a hard time finding a space. Government regulation and fixed prices make it artificially difficult to find a space (thus the experience of your commenter from Quebec).
Furthermore, day care is not actually the responsibility of the federal government. Although the federal government can indeed offer money to the provinces to achieve their social agenda, it is up to the provinces to determine how to spend the money they collect from taxpayers. I would suggest that you start lobbying Dalton McGuinty, as this might get your farther than complaining about the UCCB.
The former liberal government with their child care agreements were actually enhancing the CHST, which is a block transfer, and they were crossing their fingers that the provinces would spend the new money on day care. The provinces were not legally bound by those agreements, and if they really cared they would have implemented them anyway.
Which leads me to a final point, back to the economics. One would think that this country would be more concerned about its birth rate, which would spur demand for more day care spaces. But, given that there is no cohesive (or even incohesive) policy to increase the birth rate (another provincial responsibility), it follows that day care also has no cohesive policy, must as early childhood education is also inconsistent. If there was more demand for spaces caused by a spike in the birth rate, prices for day care would rise, and more single income families would be created, thus lowering the overall standard of living in this country.
And that, kids, is one of the reasons why we encourage immigration, and not procreation.
Economics and politics lesson over for the night.

By: Kerry

Kerry — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 09:02:25 +0000

By: tanya

tanya — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 06:49:04 +0000

Let me start by saying I wish you luck with your daycare dillema. It sounds like you really are exploring all the options.
I live in Quebec where the government has graciously taken away most of my options. A ‘national daycare program’ to me takes away parent’s choices. Here we have $7/day full time daycare in government run centres (if you can get a spot ha ha better be on a waiting list before your kids are born) Underfunded $7/day “private” full time (not govt. run) that can’t charge what they want or private nanny $$$.
I can not find ANY part time care. Even if I am willing to pay FULL time my kids would have their spaces taken away if they don’t go full time.
The govt. here is taking away any choice that doesn’t fit their plan but, Our taxes are funding a system we can’t use.
Parents who chose to stay home with their kids do not do it because they are rich but, they finance dacare for the rich.
Sorry, this is a very raw nerve for me. I’m not pro-liberal or conservative I just wish the govt. would tax us less and let us chose how we want to care for our kids. Subsidise daycare for those who really need subsidies.

By: tanya

tanya — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 06:49:04 +0000

By: cinnamon gurl

cinnamon gurl — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 05:25:59 +0000

Oh Dani. I’ve been away, but I remember when you first considered looking for new child care. I called something like 40 providers, only about four of which had an opening. Only one of those four was remotely acceptable, but luckily she is wonderful. This is a big issue, and a great post on it. I hope you find something soon!

By: cinnamon gurl

cinnamon gurl — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 05:25:59 +0000

By: DaniGirl

DaniGirl — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 04:15:30 +0000

Thanks, Anna, for your comments, and you know how I feel about the decision to stay home with your kids. Each family has to choose their own path. Once again, though, I have to say that it’s not the fact of the $100 I have a problem with, it’s calling it funding for child care. YOu said yourself, you use it for niceties like skating and museums and whatnot. That’s great – but it’s not child care.

By: DaniGirl

DaniGirl — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 04:15:30 +0000