The advertisement is not yet loaded, but you can continue reading the article below.Share this Story: Affordable child care is finally a political winner 15 years after it was first proposedAffordable child-care finally wins the political race. 15 years after its original proposal, Paul Martin began it. Stephen Harper ended it in what we now realize was a multibillion-dollar mistake. Photo by Reuters/John Morris/File photoArticle content If Paul Martin had won in 2006, Canada's economy would have been stronger today.Continue the Advertisement Story below. Your article is below, but this advertisement hasn't loaded yet.Article content This is not a partisan statement. Martin had created the foundations for a national child-care system on the eve his political downfall. Stephen Harper, the winner of the contest, immediately scrapped it. This was a multi-billion dollar mistake based upon what we now know about the relationship between subsidized child care and labour participation rates. Sorry, this video is not loading.Tap here to view other videos by our team. Refresh your browser. Affordable child-care has finally been a political winner 15 years after it was proposed. Back to video At the end Harper's decade-long tenure, only 81% of the women aged 15 and older were either working or seeking work. This is roughly the same percentage as when Harper took power. Unchanged was the rate for men, which was around 91%. This gap represents thousands of people who could have contributed to wealth but were not able to, sometimes because they didn't want to, but more often due daycare being too costly.Continue the Advertisement Story below. Your article is below, but this advertisement hasn't loaded yet.Article content Martin was still upset about the decision when he published his memoirs. Article content Martin was still angry about Harper's decision to end child-care programs and called the Conservatives replacement tax benefit for families with young kids a tragedy. He said that the political class would eventually realize its mistake and resurrect the template. Martin reiterated that he meant inevitably as he closed this section of his book. It's not about when, but whether. The treadmill of inevitability may move slowly. Since Martin's defeat, there have been four federal elections. After being elected Canada's first female prime minister in 2015, Justin Trudeau adopted the Conservatives child benefit and expanded it to become Canada's first. Martin criticized Harper for wasting so much early-childhood development time and reducing economic output. Trudeau could have used the majority of his wealth to end the tragedy. But he chose to extend it.Continue the Advertisement Story below. Your article is below, but this advertisement hasn't loaded yet.Article content However, all that seems to have been forgotten is now. Trudeau joined Quebec Premier Franois Legal and a select group of children and their guardians to announce that Quebec will receive $6 billion over five-years. This is the province's share of the $30 Billion pledged by Chrystia Freeland in her last budget. The program would allow parents to access $10-per-day childcare within five years. It could provide an economic boost comparable to the North American Free Trade Agreement, she said. The claim is not difficult to believe. Quebec had already taken a serious approach to child care while the rest of Canada squandered. Since the late 1990s, the province has provided highly subsidised daycare. This created the conditions for an experiment in macro-economic results of the policy. The results are impressive: women aged between 20 and 34 years old enrolled in labour at a high rate in 1996, and then rose to 87% 70% in 2006, respectively. The province's economy was once in shambles but is now one of the strongest in the country thanks to the influx workers.Continue the Advertisement Story below. Your article is below, but this advertisement hasn't loaded yet.Article content. There is so much evidence that (childcare) is going make a difference," said Morna Balantyne of Child Care Now in Ottawa. This is more an economic problem than a social one in the minds governments and the public. The COVID-19 crises remained a distraction. Team Trudeau had already earned a reputation for being more adept at allocating funds than they were spending them. The crisis seems to have changed politics. Millions of parents were forced from their homes to work during lockdowns and take care of their children. This was a difficult situation that showed daycare centres are just as important in a modern economy than roads and bridges. This policy, which had been popular among technocrats for decades, was suddenly popular with the wider public.Continue the Advertisement Story below. Your article is below, but this advertisement hasn't loaded yet.Continue the Advertisement Story below. Your article is below, but this advertisement hasn't loaded yet.After deals with British Columbia and Newoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia and P.E.I., Trudeaus' agreement with Legault was published as article content. These jurisdictions were the most straightforward to work with, but it will be difficult for Trudeaus political enemies to undermine his child care push: B.C. Jameson is in P.E.I., and the government of New Democratic. is a member a Conservative regime. It's unlikely that any politician will be bold enough to criticize an initiative that is popular in Quebec given its electoral weight. Ballantyne stated that it will be difficult to cancel these agreements. They will not be cancelled. They will hold up. Email: kcarmichael@postmedia.com | Twitter: CarmichaelKevin _____________________________________________________________ If you like this story sign up for FP Economy Newsletter._____________________________________________________________This article can be shared in your social networksContinue the Advertisement Story below. Your article is below, but this advertisement hasn't loaded yet.The Logic: In-depth reporting from The Logic on the innovation economy, presented in partnership by the Financial Post.Financial Post Top Stories Subscribe to the Financial Post, a division from Postmedia Network Inc. Email address An error occurred. Please provide a valid email. Sign up by clicking the sign up button. 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 We are sending you a welcome email. If you do not see the email, please check your junk mail folder. Financial Post Top Stories' next issue will be arriving in your inbox soon. We had an error signing you up. Please try again
