Excerpts from the report:
Canada could gain a payoff from extending free high-quality early education to all children from an earlier age &em; a point that has been largely overlooked in the current debate over the provision of childcare for working parents. In most Canadian provinces and territories children are offered free education only from age five, although Ontario has reasonably widespread coverage for four year-olds. This is somewhat later than in many OECD countries. Lowering the age at which free education is available would mean increasing provincial expenditure, but the available evidence indicates that early education provides a significantly higher social return than post-secondary education, which is currently more generously funded. Indeed, on several occasions in recent years, provincial governments have individually and collectively acknowledged the importance of early learning. Provinces and territories should recognise the benefits of high-quality early education with the idea of moving towards providing this service free for all three and four year olds. Although this is likely justified on its own merits, it would also reduce the need for full time childcare for working parents, lowering their weekly out of pocket costs.
The availability of suitable wrap-around childcare for out of school hours and high quality all-day care for young children remains a contentious issue. Childcare availability and cost can affect both the decision to take up paid work or to increase working hours, especially for mothers. However, employment rates for mothers are reasonably high, suggesting that cost may be a barrier only for lower-income households and that higher childcare subsidies overall could have significant deadweight costs. Options to provide additional assistance for low-income working parents to defray childcare costs should be examined. It is difficult to assess whether availability of suitable childcare is a separate obstacle for working parents and why the supply response has not been stronger, given reports of long waiting lists for some childcare centres. However, provinces and territories need to monitor their childcare policies carefully to ensure that they both allow supply to respond to parental preferences and avoid imposing prohibitively expensive regulatory requirements.