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How to Organize for Child Care in an Election The 2019 federal election campaign is underway. This toolkit gives you everything you need to engage your community and candidates on the issue of child care. A diverse group of national, provincial/territorial and local groups have created the Affordable Child Care for All Plan, which sets out what the federal government can to build the child care system Canada needs. The 2019 federal election is a great opportunity to win the political support of Canada’s next Parliament for this plan. How to Use this Toolkit Read through the various ways you can engage candidates and your community and choose the methods that work best for you. Whether you engage your community by going door-to-door or hand out information at a farmer’s market or meet with candidates about child care, you will have an impact on both the voters and the candidates. Thank you for your efforts and good luck!

Let’s work together to make affordable child care a reality for all.

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Table of Contents

Community Engagement ........................................................................................................................................................... 3 Quick tips for success ................................................................................................................................................................................ 3

Town Hall Meeting .......................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Tips for organizing a town hall ............................................................................................................................................................. 4

Planning ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Publicizing Your Event ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 At Your Event .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 5

Using Social Media ......................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Tips for using social media ..................................................................................................................................................................... 6

Meet with Election 2019 Candidates .................................................................................................................................. 7 How to Secure a Meeting ......................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Speaking points: What to say in your candidate meeting ................................................................................. 8

All-candidates’ meetings – questions on child care ........................................................................................... 11

Information to include in letters to Candidates .................................................................................................... 12

Candidate Meeting Report Form .................................................................................................................................... 14

Host a candidate visit to a child care centre ........................................................................................................... 15

Key messages about child care ........................................................................................................................................... 16 The Affordable Child Care for All Plan…………………………………………………………………………….…..18 Petition Form ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….. 20 Child Care Champion Sign English………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…….. 22 French…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………23

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Community Engagement

Elections are a good time to get all voters thinking about child care.

Speaking with voters directly is the best way to engage them on the issue. You can create opportunities for conversation in many different ways: leafleting on the street (mainstreeting); setting up an information table at a farmer’s market, local festival or other community event; or through door-to-door canvasses.

People expect political candidates to stop them for a chat. Often voters are even more receptive to hearing from non-partisan, issue-based campaigners like us.

Quick tips for success

• Go with a group. Whether you are handing out information at an event or knocking on doors, always work with a friend or a group of friends and colleagues. It makes the experience more fun, safe and interesting. Take turns doing the talking and help each other tweak your messages based on the reactions you get. • Listen more than you talk. Community engagement is all about listening to people, trying

to understand their priorities and making a connection between their concerns and child care.

• Give out material. A short pamphlet is a good conversation starter and it can also be left behind with the voter to look over after the conversation.

• Stay non-partisan. Our campaign is issue-based and non-partisan, meaning that we don’t tell people who to vote for or which party to support. We want everyone to understand the importance of child care and to tell their politicians and candidates that child care matters.

• State what action the other person should take. Ideally this is an action they can take right away – like signing a petition (included in this kit). Record names, addresses, e-mail addresses and phone numbers on the spot. Petitions give us a record of supporters and the information we need to re-contact them in the future.

• Handling unfriendly people. Occasionally you will encounter someone who is vehemently opposed to public spending on early childhood education and care. (“Why should I pay for other people’s children?!” etc., etc.) Do not feel obliged to listen for long or engage with people who are highly resistant or rude. We probably cannot change their mind and the longer we spend debating them the less time we have to talk to someone who we could motivate to get involved in our campaign. To tactfully remove yourself from the situation just say something like, “Perhaps if I had your life experiences, I’d feel the way you do. Have a nice day.” Then head off, head held high J

• Have fun! Mainstreeting and canvassing are fun and friendly way to meet neighbours and people with similar interests.

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Town Hall Meeting

Town hall meetings are public meetings where members from a community can come together to learn about issues, to share their views and to promote common understanding. Town halls can also be used to convey concerns and solutions to elected representatives.

Tips for organizing a town hall Planning • Seek suitable organization(s) to sponsor/ co-sponsor the townhall.

• Narrow down possible dates to a maximum of 3 or 4. This will make it easier to begin to identify speakers, find a venue, reach out to key organizations and groups, and avoid conflicts with other events.

• Once the sponsors are confirmed, call the elected representatives and candidates in your area and ask if they would care to participate.

• Secure your location as quickly as possible. Do not pick spaces too large for the number of people you anticipate. Don’t put out a lot of chairs at the start. Keep adding rows as you need them. That way people will sit at the front and you will avoid rows of empty seats.

• Choose speakers who will be engaging and will reinforce the campaign’s key message: Everyone benefits from quality child care all families can afford.

• Make sure at least one community speaker will clearly reinforce the merits of the Affordable Child Care for All plan. Choose your community speakers carefully—they should be knowledgeable, good communicators, and stay on point.

• Ensure a balance of speakers. Keep in mind that your main priority is an engaging speaker, not a representative from an organization. Also consider the diversity of your speakers (gender, language, race, disability, age).

• If elected representatives attend, consider the questions you want them to answer. Give them the key questions in advance so they do not feel ambushed.

• Select a moderator for the meeting to keep the meeting moving along. This person should know how to cut off long speeches and be able to handle uproar if any occurs. Local media personalities are excellent in this role.

• Don’t try to pack too much in. The fewer presenters, the better. Leave time to hear stories and questions from people in the audience. Keep your event to under 2 hours.

Publicizing Your Event

Publicizing the town hall meeting is important. Ways to promote the meeting include:

• Producing posters • Sending out e-mails • Making phone calls • Creating a Facebook event • Getting a form of media coverage before the event (morning radio shows, community

newspapers)

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At Your Event

• Make sure you have copies of the Affordable Child Care for All Plan to hand out. Also, make sure you have petitions for people to sign.

• Prepare an agenda for the event so that the event can remain organized and on time. For example:

1. Welcome and introduction of event and elected official(s) 5 minutes

2. Prepared Testimony (4 speakers, 5-8 minutes each) 32 minutes

3. Audience Testimony: open mic with each person limited to 2 minutes. 40 minutes

4. Elected officials respond 20 minutes

5. Closing summary of the meeting and next steps in the campaign 5min

• Prepare a more detailed itinerary or script for your moderator.

• On the night of the event, make sure you put up signs directing people to the room.

• Have a registration table for people to sign in and get information.

• It is imperative to start and end the meeting on time.

• Consider including some time for informal networking and discussion over coffee and treats.

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Using Social Media Social media can be a great way to:

• highlight the issue of the lack of affordable, quality child care;

• engage others with the issue;

• draw attention to a meeting with a candidate.

Tips for using social media

• Always ask permission when posting a photo of someone other than yourself;

• Be positive and respectful when describing a meeting with a candidate;

• Centre on facts and voices of parents and educators;

• Tag candidates, political parties, political party leaders and interested journalists

• Use hashtags to have your message appear in more places. We suggest: #affordablechildcare, #cdnchildcare, #childcareforall, #childcarechampion;

• Don’t forget to tag us, Facebook: @childcarenowcanada, Twitter: @child_care_now, Instagram: @child_care_now;

• Share our campaign page childcareforall.ca to help get others involved.

Examples:

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Meet with Election 2019 Candidates

Meeting with candidates is an effective way of making child care an election issue. By meeting with candidates, you can show that child care is a voters’ issue.

If candidates across the country are being asked about child care, the central offices of political parties will soon hear about it. This helps make child care an issue of concern for political parties and their leaders.

Meeting with candidates gives you a chance to hear their position. Letting others in your community know what the candidates are saying puts political pressure on the candidates to commit to the right things.

How to Secure a Meeting • Email the candidate or go visit the candidate’s headquarters to set up a meeting. If you don’t

receive a response within a week, follow up with phone calls.

• In your meeting request be sure to say you are a voter in the riding. If you are connected to a local child care program, mention this too.

• Let the candidate know if others will be joining you. A candidate will find it more difficult to say no if you are not meeting on your own.

• Try to be flexible in the times that you can meet.

• If the candidate is unavailable for a meeting, request a meeting with a member of the candidate’s staff. You can always tell the staff member you are meeting with that you want to meet with the candidate.

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Speaking points: What to say in your candidate meeting 1. Introduction

- Introduce yourselves: say what you do and where you are from - Thank the candidate for meeting with you - Confirm how long you have for the meeting - Say that you are here as part of a coalition of parents, educators and organizations concerned

about the child care crisis - Indicate what you want to get out of the meeting: To share your perspective on child care in

Canada and ask for commitments to move forward on fixing the child care crisis

2. The child care system in Canada is in crisis - Child care fees are too high for most families (on average, parents spend a quarter of their take

home pay on child care) - There are far too few licensed child care spaces for families that need them, and for the right

ages in the right places (if you have them, you can add city or region-specific information about waitlists here)

- We have a child care workforce crisis in Canada, where low wages, poor retention rates, and obstacles to training and recruitment stand in the way of quality and space expansion

- *If you have one, you can share a personal story about yourself, or a family member who had difficulty finding licensed child care due to cost, availability, needs.

3. What the Federal government/federal Parliament can do:

If the candidate is Liberal:

- Your government’s Multilateral Framework Agreement has been a very positive first step; the first time in a decade that the federal government has provided ear-marked funds for child care.

- We especially welcome the action you have taken on indigenous learning and child care. - We are here to talk about the second phase of this process – the next round of three-year

bilateral agreements. - In order to actually address affordability, quality and access we need significantly more

investment: Paul Martin’s government committed to $5 billion over 5 years in 2005. This type of investment brings us closer to the internationally accepted benchmark of spending 1% of GDP on child care (roughly an additional $1 billion each year).

- The next round of agreements should require the provinces and territories to build a fully funded publicly-managed child care system that is inclusive of all children, and accessible and affordable for all families.

- We know that your government values gender equality. We also know that having access to affordable child care is one of the most effective ways to increase women’s participation in the paid labour force and close the gender pay gap.

- We also want to see federal child care legislation introduced to cement the federal government’s commitment to child care, just the way the Canada Health Act cemented the right to Medicare in Canada.

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If the candidate is Conservative:

- We both know that child care is a good investment. Even the governor of the Bank of Canada says that a subsidized child-care program will significantly boost the Canadian economy by increasing women’s participation in the paid labour force.

- But in order to realize these economic benefits, the funding needs to be substantial enough to create enough spaces that are sufficiently affordable so that parents (especially mothers) decide to go back to full-time work.

- With the Multilateral Framework Agreement, the federal government took a first step. Most of the agreements with the provinces and territories, however, are not bold enough. They won’t do enough to significantly expand access or increase affordability. In the next phase, the government needs to increase Canada’s early learning and child care budget each year by $1 billion until funding levels meet widely-accepted international spending benchmarks of 1% of GDP on child care.

- The next round of agreements should require the provinces and territories to build a fully funded publicly-managed child care system that is inclusive of all children, and accessible and affordable for all families.

- This investment needs to be dedicated to expansion of licensed child care. If the candidate is NDP:

The Liberal government has done more for child care than the Harper government did in the previous decade, but we both know it isn’t enough.

- A government truly dedicated to gender-equality would make proper investment in child care. It would increase Canada’s early learning and child care budget by $1 billion each year over the next 10 years in order to move towards the international benchmark of 1 per cent of GDP.

- This investment needs to be dedicated to expansion for licensed and non-profit child care. - The next round of agreements should require the provinces and territories to build a fully

funded publicly-managed child care system that is inclusive of all children, and accessible and affordable for all families.

- We also want to see federal child care legislation introduced to cement the federal government’s commitment to child care, just the way the Canada Health Act cemented the right to Medicare in Canada.

If the candidate is Green:

- The Green Party has stated how important child care is for Canadians. - If the government is truly dedicated to gender-equality they need to make proper investment in

child care. They need to increase Canada’s early learning and child care budget each year by $1 billion over 10 years – to meet international benchmarks.

- This investment needs to be dedicated to expansion for licensed and non-profit child care. - The next round of agreements should require the provinces and territories to build a fully

funded publicly-managed child care system that is inclusive of all children, and accessible and affordable for all families.

- The expansion of child care is critical to a healthy green economy. Public investments in a publicly managed child care system would create tens of thousands of green jobs.

- We also want to see federal child care legislation introduced to cement the federal government’s commitment to child care, just the way the Canada Health Act cemented the right to Medicare in Canada.

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4. Closing/commitment

- Ask the candidate to commit to advocating for increased funding for child care, with a 10-year goal of child care for all - a child care system that gives every child the right to early learning and child care.

- Remind them that you are here as part of a coalition looking for “child care champions.” Ask if they will have their photo taken with you and the frame/sign indicating that they are a #childcarechampion and committed to #affordablechildcare.

- Thank them for meeting with you, leave behind a copy of the Affordable Child Care for All Plan.

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All-candidates’ meetings – questions on child care

One of the best ways to make sure child care is addressed at an all-candidate’s meeting is to ask candidates a question. Here’s an example.

Preamble (if there is time for one, make these points):

Numerous studies have established that making affordable, high-quality early learning and child care available to all families will grow the economy, promote gender equality, increase women’s labour force participation and enhance children’s well-being.

Although all levels of government have increased public spending on early learning and child care since the 2015 federal election, there is still a child care crisis in Canada. There are too few licensed spaces to meet the need and long waiting lists. Child care is unaffordable for most, often more than a mortgage. Expanding the availability of child care is going to be impossible without more early childhood educators and other staff—but wages and working conditions are so poor that attracting and retaining qualified staff is proving difficult and too often impossible.

The child care crisis can only be resolved if the federal government steps up.

Question (ask one or more if you can):

What is your party’s plan to make high-quality, licensed child care affordable and accessible to all?

What specifically will you and your party do to:

• make child care affordable,

• make it available and inclusive of all children,

• improve the working conditions of early childhood educators?

Will you commit to endorsing the Affordable Child Care for All Plan that has been developed by child care advocates and the child care sector and that has the support of more than 100 broad-based organizations, including the YWCA, Girl Guides of Canada, Oxfam Canada, and Child Care Now, among others?

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Information to include in letters to Candidates Needed: Child care champions who will advocate for affordable, quality child care for all Why we are here:

As part of the Child Care for All campaign, parents, educators and others passionate about child care issues are meeting with candidates to urge the next federal government to take the next step on child care

The Multilateral Framework and child care agreements between the federal government and provinces/ territories have been a very positive first step; the first time in a decade that the federal government has been involved in child care. We support this and are here to talk about the second phase of this process – the next round of three-year bilateral agreements.

The child care crisis remains a reality for far too many families. In every province and territory:

- Child care fees are too high for most families;

- There is a child care workforce crisis, with low wages, poor retention rates, and obstacles to training and recruitment that stand in the way of quality and space expansion;

- There are far too few licensed child care spaces for families that need them, and for the right ages in the right places.

What we need:

To fix these problems, we need the next federal government to implement the second phase of improving child care and play an even greater leadership role in building a stable child care system for all. Federal funding for early learning and child care must be boosted significantly. The federal government’s next agreements with provinces/territories must set out action on three fronts simultaneously:

1. Making child care affordable.

2. Improving quality and stability through public spending on the workforce, including improving the wages in the child care sector.

3. Expansion through licensed public and non-profit child care.

How to get there – what the federal government can do:

- Make a commitment to a 10-year goal of child care for all - a child care system that every child has the right to access.

- Increase Canada’s early learning and child care budget each year by $1 billion over 10 years – to meet international benchmarks.

- Negotiate agreements that require the provinces and territories to build a fully funded publicly-managed child care system that is inclusive of all children, and accessible and affordable for all families.

To help solve the child care crisis we need you to commit to be a child care champion and advocate for quality, affordable child care.

Thank you.

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Candidate Meeting Checklist

Before the meeting

o Review the “Speaking points: What to say in your candidate meeting” and the “Affordable Child Care for All Plan” in this kit.

o Add notes about the specific situation in the candidate’s province/ territory. For instance, you can use the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) parent fee report to look up how many centres maintain waitlists or what the average cost of child care is in their city/region. Also, check the interactive CCPA map of child care deserts to see how many licensed spaces there are in the candidate’s riding relative to the number of children under school age.

o Confirm how long your meeting is.

o Decide who on your team will say what.

o Decide who will take notes.

o Plan to be at the meeting location 10 minutes early.

o Print the Affordable Child Care for All Plan, Letter to Candidates and #childcarechampion sign.

During the meeting

o Begin by introducing yourself and reconfirm how long you have.

o Take charge. You asked for the meeting, so you can lead the meeting. Present your position clearly and don’t be sidetracked.

o Listen well but don’t let the candidate talk so much that you don’t get a chance to do the same.

o Treat all questions calmly and seriously. You can learn a lot from the questions they ask.

o If you are asked a question you do not know the answer to, do not invent a response on the spot. Tell the candidate you will get back after the meeting with an answer.

o For the note taker: note if the candidate commits to something or refuses to commit to something.

o Have a copy of the Affordable Child Care for All Plan to leave with the candidate.

o Ask if you can take a photo with the candidate holding up the #ChildCareChampion sign.

o Do not prolong the meeting beyond the allotted time unless the candidate wants to continue.

After the meeting

o Debrief with your team right after the meeting. From your notes, do a quick one-page summary of the meeting (using the meeting report form in this kit)

o Flag any requests for additional information or questions raised that you could not answer.

o Flag any commitments that were made to you by the candidate.

o Decide who on the team will take responsibility for the follow-up.

o Send the candidate a thank you letter/email along with any information the candidate requested.

o Let others know what the candidate said; but make sure you give an accurate account. Other child care advocates will be casting their vote based at least partly on what positions the candidates are taking on child care. Also, candidates need to be held accountable for their positions.

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Candidate Meeting Report Form Please note that there is an online reporting tool available at: https://childcareforall.ca/candidate-meeting-report/ Candidate’s Name: _______________________________

Candidate’s Riding: _______________________________

Candidate’s Party: _______________________________

Names of child care advocates who attended the meeting, and their contact information.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Did the candidate allow you to take a #childcarechampion photo? (Printable sign attached)

YES o NO o

(If yes, please send the photo electronically to communications@ccnow.ca and also post it on your social media accounts using the hashtags #childcarechampion #affordablechildcare #childcareforall #cdnchildcare @Child_Care_Now and be sure to also tag the candidate).

Did the candidate commit to advocating for increased funding for child care?

YES o NO o

Did the candidate commit to advocating for a universal, high-quality child care system?

YES o NO o

What other commitments/comments did the candidate make, if any?

What questions, if any, did the candidate ask?

Are there answers that need elaboration or clarification?

Follow up:

Who will follow up with the candidate? ________________________________________

What needs to be included in your follow up email/phone call? (always include a thank you!)

o A request for information the candidate promised you o Answers to questions the candidate asked/additional info the candidate asked you to provide. o Request for a follow-up meeting Please enter information at https://childcareforall.ca/candidate-meeting-report/ or return completed form to ed@ccnow.ca

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Host a candidate visit to a child care centre

A great next step after a candidate meeting at a constituency office is to invite the candidate to visit a local child care program. Or, if the candidate’s staff has been unable to schedule a meeting, try offering a program tour instead. This might be more appealing to the candidate, as they will know that they will have a chance to meet many constituents, see a local community program, and get their picture taken.

A centre visit can also be a great alternative to an office meeting if you would feel more comfortable in a less formal setting or would prefer to show instead of telling the candidate about the importance of quality child care.

Get permission

Before inviting the candidate, be sure that you have buy-in from others at the centre – director or, board members, staff and parents. Explain that visits of this kind will raise the profile of the centre in the community. It can be a fun and friendly way to get staff and parents involved in advocacy.

Involve others

In planning the visit, be sure to invite at least a couple of parents, as well as some educators who can speak to their experiences. Review with them the speaking notes for candidate meetings in this kit but also encourage them to speak from the heart about their experiences.

Time it right

Sometimes it works best to have the visit during opening hours when the candidate can see the centre in action, but for other centres it works better to do a tour after hours. Try to work around the candidate’s schedule. Invite

If you are having a BBQ or other community event at your centre, consider inviting candidates. Follow up

Be sure to follow up with the candidate after the event to thank them for visiting. This is all about building a relationship with your candidate. You are their link to the child care community, and a trusted local voice on issues that impact child care.

Email template to invite your candidate to visit your child care centre

Hello [candidate],

On behalf of the staff and parents at _____________ Early Learning and Child Care Centre I am writing to invite you to visit our centre, located in ___ and serving ____ families. We would love to give you a tour of our program, show you what we do, introduce you to some staff and parents, and discuss the important contributions that our programs make to our local community and the economy. Please let me know some dates and times that work well for you and we will make an effort to accommodate your schedule.

Sincerely, _______________

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Key messages about child care Reviewing the messages below will help you familiarize yourself with the issue of child care and help you answer questions from others. Vision Statement Canada can have child care for all by 2030. A national child care plan will take a long-term, phased approach to building the solid universal child care system Canada needs. It will provide for an increase in Canada’s federal ELCC budget to $1 billion in 2020, and a further increase of $1 billion each year for ten years so as to meet the internationally recommended spending benchmark and achieve the goal of affordable, high-quality, inclusive child care for all across Canada. Value Statement Child care is good for the economy, good for families, good for Canada. Making affordable, high-quality child care available to all families will grow the economy, promote gender equality, increase women’s labour force participation and enhance children’s well-being. What we need to get there The federal government must play a leadership role to ensure that all children in Canada, regardless of where they live, their ability, family circumstances or culture have access to affordable high-quality child care. The Affordable Child Care for All Plan calls for the Government of Canada to:

• play a greater leadership role in building a stable child care system over a period of 10 years;

• increase funding to Canada’s ELCC budget by $1 billion each year over 10 years to meet international benchmarks;

• negotiate ELCC agreements with the provinces and territories that demand action on three fronts simultaneously:

a) planned expansion through public/non-profit services; b) making child care affordable through operational funding and set fees; c) improving quality through improving child care workforce wages;

• continue to work with Indigenous leaders and communities on the Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Framework;

• put in place federal infrastructure to support the implementation of the plan.

The Barrier Message - “Why should I pay for someone else’s childcare?” Canada has the lowest ranking in child care investment among developed countries. Good child care benefits all children, especially those most disadvantaged. Just like Canadians pay taxes towards education, health care costs, the Canada Pension Plan, clean drinking water, environmental protection, roads, and so on, ensuring that children are safe, well cared for and provided with early learning opportunities should be a public responsibility.

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Additional Messaging The current patchwork of child care programs and services across the country doesn’t work for families. High fees and hard-to-find care strains household budgets keep women out of the work force and doesn’t represent the realities of families in Canada. Much like public education and healthcare, the child care system that families need requires direct public funding to work. Child care for all will give every parent the opportunity to contribute to the workforce, which puts money back in to the pockets of Canadian families and strengthens the economy. Child care for all ensures that all children have access to child care environments where they are safe, well-cared, thriving and happy – that shouldn’t be a matter of luck. Child care for all means affordable for all – right now child care is the second highest household expense for Canadian families. Finding safe, affordable child care shouldn’t be a matter of luck. It’s a matter of priorities. Building a child care system would benefit many more families than subsidies ever could. Public investment in a national child care system pays for itself, and, creates a more equal society and a more sustainable economy.

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https://timeforchildcare.ca/the-affordable-child-care-for-all-plan/

The Affordable Child Care for All Plan Child care for all - the starting point and long-term goal

Making affordable, high-quality early learning and child care (ELCC) available to all families will grow the economy, promote gender equality, increase women’s labour force participation and enhance children’s well-being. The federal government must play a leadership role to ensure that all children in Canada, regardless of where they live, their ability, family circumstances or culture have access to affordable high-quality child care. Canada needs a plan—a road map—to affordable child care for all. Child care for all by 2030

The Affordable Child Care for All Plan takes a long-term, phased approach to building the solid universal child care system Canada needs. The Plan provides for an increase in Canada’s federal ELCC budget to $1 billion in 2020, and a further increase of $1 billion each year for ten years so as to meet the internationally recommended spending benchmark and achieve the goal of affordable, high-quality, inclusive child care for all across Canada. Focus on improving, affordability, accessibility (expansion), and quality, simultaneously

The Affordable Child Care for All Plan focuses on addressing three elements simultaneously: accessibility (expanding service availability), making child care affordable and improving quality, largely by tackling child care workforce issues.

• Making ELCC affordable: the plan moves away from relying mostly on parent fees to cover the costs of operating child care services. This shift has two parts:

a) parent fees will be set by provincial/territorial governments at rates ranging from $0 to amounts calculated to be affordable;

b) public funds, in the form of direct operational funding, will be used to make up the difference between parent fee revenue and the full cost of high-quality, inclusive child care.

• Strengthening accessibility (expanding availability): the plan moves away from relying on private

initiatives for creating child care services to a planned, public approach. Governments and communities will work together to determine where services are needed in urban/suburban/rural/remote communities; what kinds of services are needed (centres, full/part-day, home child care) and for whom (child age groups, language, parent schedules, etc.). Provincial/territorial “expansion strategies” will be developed based on demand forecasting and capital funding. Expansion will extend to various settings (residential communities, workplaces, schools, other public buildings, and other sites).

• Improving ELCC quality: fixing child care sector workforce issues is necessary both to improve the quality of child care and to allow service expansion. Under the plan, federal, provincial and territorial governments will work together, and with Indigenous communities and the child care sector, to develop a comprehensive strategy to develop and implement a workforce strategy. This will include specific measures and timetables to address remuneration, educational requirements, training, recruitment and retention of early childhood educators and others who work in the sector. All such measures will help in bringing about pay equity for the mostly female child care workforce.

https://timeforchildcare.ca/the-affordable-child-care-for-all-plan/

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https://timeforchildcare.ca/the-affordable-child-care-for-all-plan/

Federal leadership and levers to implement the plan

The federal government will realize the Affordable Child Care for All Plan by taking the following steps, all of which fall within federal jurisdiction.

• Negotiate provincial/territorial child care agreements with solid implementation plans and timetables, and make federal transfer payments conditional on agreements being met;

• Enact federal child care legislation that enshrines Canada’s commitment to public child care, and sets out the principles and conditions for ELCC federal transfer payments similar to the Canada Health Act;

• Establish a federal child care secretariat or branch within the federal government to facilitate collaboration with provinces/territories, the Indigenous Peoples, experts and stakeholders, and to coordinate ELCC initiatives such as a workforce strategy, a data/research strategy, and innovation;

• Establish a national data and research strategy to inform evidence-based policy development;

• Reinstate the funding for community stakeholders/researchers/experts/advocates to strengthen the capacity of the child care sector to support affordable, high-quality, inclusive child care services that are responsive to the needs of parents, children, and communities.

Summary - The Affordable Child Care for All Plan calls for the Government of Canada to:

• Play a greater leadership role in building a stable child care system for all over 10 years in the next and subsequent phases of bilateral agreements;

• Boost funding significantly by increasing Canada’s ELCC budget by $1 billion each year over 10 years to meet international benchmarks and reach the goal of affordable, high-quality, inclusive child care for all across Canada;

• Negotiate ELCC agreements with the provinces and territories that demand action on three fronts simultaneously: a) Planned expansion through public/non-profit services; b) Making child care affordable through operational funding and set fees; c) Improving quality and stability through public spending on the child care workforce including improving child care sector wages;

• Continue to work with Indigenous leaders and communities to operationalize, implement and expand on the Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Framework to realize the goals and aspirations of the Indigenous Peoples;

• Put in place federal infrastructure (legislation, a federal secretariat, funding to the child care sector) to support the implementation of the plan.

This plan was developed through extensive consultations with a wide array of organizations and individuals concerned with the well-being of children, gender equality, the economic security of families, as well as social inclusion and equity. All of us share the common goal of building a child care system in Canada that is responsive to the needs of children and families, affordable, and that will allow for Canada’s economy to grow for the benefit of all. Individuals are encouraged to support the plan by signing our petition to Canada’s federal party leaders (childcareforall.ca). We invite organizations to endorse the plan by writing to ed@ccnow.ca.

Please return signed petition sheets to Child Care Now, 123 Slater Street, 6th Floor, Ottawa ON K1P 5H2

Canada needs an affordable child care plan for all

We, the undersigned, call on Canada’s federal political parties to endorse the Affordable Child Care for All Plan, which includes:

• $1 billion for child care transfers to the provinces/territories in the first federal budget following the 2019 federal election; an additional $1 billion each year to make affordable, quality and inclusive early learning and child care a reality for all families by 2030;

• Federal/provincial/territorial agreements to expand the availability of early learning and child care, improve quality and make it affordable for all;

• Federal legislation to ensure all children have access to high-quality, inclusive, early learning and child care;

• An early childhood education workforce strategy to make possible the provision of high-quality services.

The full text of the Affordable Child Care for All Plan is available at childcareforall.ca

*The purpose of this petition is to gain signatures to endorse the Affordable Child Care for All Plan. By signing, you agree to your name, email and postal code being stored securely by Child Care Now. Your name may be publicly displayed as a supporter of this Plan. On an occasional basis, you may be sent information about related petitions and updates. You may opt out at any time.

Name Email Postal Code

Please return signed petition sheets to Child Care Now, 123 Slater Street, 6th Floor, Ottawa ON K1P 5H2

*The purpose of this petition is to gain signatures to endorse the Affordable Child Care for All Plan. By signing, you agree to your name, email and postal code being stored securely by Child Care Now. Your name may be publicly displayed as a supporter of this Plan. On an occasional basis, you may be sent information about related petitions and updates. You may opt out at any time.

Name Email Postal Code