Excerpts from the report:
The Liberal Women's Caucus supports a realistic and helpful approach to benefit working women caring for young children or elderly parents. One of the aspects of modern life is the issue of "time poverty" facing women who are caregivers. The unpaid work in raising children or caring for others can make women vulnerable to poverty. Often, women don't have the time or energy to devote to income-earning activities.
The Liberal plan for early learning and child care is best suited to addressing the needs of women and families. This plan must continue to be the centrepiece of Liberal government policy. The Conservative government approach of $100 a month cannot build an affordable, high-quality early learning and child care system that everyone can access.
The Liberal Women's Caucus recommends that a new Liberal government honour the previous bilateral agreements with the provinces and territories for $1 billion a year over five years in early learning and child care.
To fully meet the needs of working women and young families, a new Liberal government needs, as a long term goal, to devote federal financial support equivalent to one per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to early learning and child care. This is the target established by the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) in its report entitled Starting Strong II.
To further help working women and families, a new Liberal government should use the $100 a month under the Conservative government to boost the Canadian Child Tax Benefit. It would mean an additional $1,200 each year for the majority of Canadian families.
A new Liberal government should use the value of the Spousal Credit, a tax deduction for a spouse at home, to be paid directly to the spouse who, in the majority of instances, would be a woman.