Excerpts from the press release:
Canada is in a free fall behind other industrialized nations when it comes to early learning and child care services, says a report released by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.
Starting Strong II: Early Childhood Education and Care, shows Canada languishes at the bottom in public spending on child care out of the 20 OECD member-states in the study. Canada spends a mere 0.03% of GDP on early childhood services, behind the 0.1% benchmark recommended by the Paris-based think tank.
Canada has also failed to make progress towards the other standards recommended by the OECD. Child care services outside Quebec remain fragmented, relying on underpaid child care workers and a combination of high parent fees and small subsidies doled out to low-income families. Under-resourced, stand-alone programs receive little to no support for staff training or other quality improvements.