The federal budget of April 2021 bears scrutiny for many reasons. Chief among them though for the parents of the nation are the gaps between intention and action. There are little shafts of bias leaking through, and an agenda for a lifestyle government not only wants us to have but is heavily pushing us to have.
In a democracy this gap between what they say and what they actually do is a source of concern. One might put up a sign over this budget even ‘Mind the gap”
Here are some of the problems and inconsistencies in this budget. They reveal an amazing bias.
1. The plan defines the care role at home two entirely different ways
a. it says it is useful work
it bemoans the fact that “unpaid work is not valued in traditional
economic terms
b. it says it is not work at all
-(the pandemic has) made it more difficult for some
women to work full time or some to work at all.
-more than 16,00 women have dropped out of the labour force completely
-fifty years ago only half of Canadian women participated in the labour market
(it suggests that at home ) women are not able to ‘fully participate in
the economy’
-women start from a position of disadvantage in the workforce
-measures to support women’s employment (suggesting women at home are not employing their time usefully at all)
-it says that the task force of women with paid work are ‘leading
voices’ for the advisory team, implying that women without
paid work are not leading voices
-some have had to leave their jobs
-without access to childcare, parents cannot fully participate in our
economy
-(daycare is) a plan to secure women’s place in the workforce
(not being at home leads to ) a growing qualified workforce
-it excludes women at home from the category of ‘working women”
and in its charts only considers women in paid jobs as working
2. The plan claims to aim for universal benefit, inclusiveness yet it actually denies benefit to anyone except those who use the one care style- daycare
a. it uses terms of inclusiveness
-a plan of recovery that gives all women in Canada the ability
to fully participate in our economy
-this will create an economy that works for everyone
-every child deserves a fair start
-to offer each and every child the best start in life
-making sure that everyone has the same access to opportunities
-to give every Canadian child the same head start
-we are at our best when we come together
build a healthier, more inclusive, more equal Canada
-a more equitable and inclusive society demands all
Canadians come together
-the Government of Canada is committed to building a more
inclusive society that leaves no one behind
-better respond to the unique needs of vulnerable people
-improve the quality of life for all Canadians
-building an economy that works for everyone
-a social safety net on which all Canadians can rely
-Canada’s challenge now is to ensure an inclusive, intersectional
recovery that builds a truly equitable society
-actions the government is taking in this budget to improve fairness
and inclusion
b. it actually leaves out all those who do not use daycare
No money for those who use care by a father at home, mother
at home, sitter, nanny, those who use care by a grandma or other
family member, no money for those who have a home based office
or take the child to paid work, no money for those who offshift
each other or tag-team parent so one is always with the kids while
the other earns, no money for those who had paid work only during
school hours. The plan is ONLY for those who use daycare.
3. the plan claims to ask everyone’s views, to consult widely However it restricts its consultation actually to only those who promote paid work for parents and daycare use for kids
a. it claims to consult everyone
-council would reflect Canada’s geographic, cultural, linguistic
and socio-economic diversity
-following consultations with stakeholders
-an open and collaborative relationship with partners and
stakeholders
-following consultations with stakeholders
-government is proposing measures to strengthen our democratic
process
-committed too. a decision-making process that considers
the impacts of policy proposals on Canadians from all angles
-now is the time to make sure every voice is heard
-it decries the ‘absence of bargaining power’ among workers
b. it actually only consults the ones who agree with the plan
This government has formed a task force composed
only of women who promote daycare, some even linked
to the employment of daycare workers
This government has held consultations with parents that
are closed door, by invitation only and only extended
to parents who use daycare or are in the line up to use it
It was true for consultations with Senator Landon Pearson,
with Ken Dryden, and for formation of provincial
agreements about childcare – only parents who use daycare
are even made aware of the chance to have input
(oddly it even identifies that it is offensive if women who are
racialized or with disabilities are not included and ‘their voices
are muted’ and yet it does not apparently seek the views
of ordinary parents who do not use or want daycare. So it is aware
that muting a voice is offensive but still does it)
4. It says the goal is affordable care. It actually would be a very high cost .
a. it advertises its plan as offering low cost affordable care
-the government will also ensure that families in Canada are no
longer burdened by high child care costs
b. it actually presents to all taxpayers a huge bill for the plan, even more for its administration
-Budget 2021 proposes new investments totalling up to $30 billion
over the next five years and $8.3 billion ongoing for early learning
and childcare and indigenous early learning and childcare
-a minimum of $9.2 billion per year ongoing will be invested
in childcare
upt o $27.2 billion over five years..
(ironically it sets up a huge bill that will grow)
-the enabling accessibility fund to suport child care centres as
they improve their physical accessibility – $29.2 million over tow years
-will allow for further improvements to their system
(ironically it sets up a permanent bill that will continue in perpetuity)
-This is a legacy investment for today’s children who will not only
benefit from but also inherit the system
-making this historic commitment a lasting one
(there will also be a huge new bill just to administer the plan)
-build a strong baseline of common, publicly available data on which
to measure progress
-an additional $34.5 million over 5 years and $3.5 million ongoing to
strengthen capacity within the new federal secretariat on early
learning and childcare
-improve the availability of data
5. It says it is empowering women. It actually massively insults many women.
a. it says it is empowering women
-it enables parents, particularly mothers, to reach their full economic
potential
-gender equality and diversity are fundamental to creating a thriving
and successful country
-Our lives are better thanks to the efforts of the women who came
before us. If we are to honor their legacy and our daughters’ futures,
we must continue to fight for gender equality _ quote by Landry
cited in the budget
-educational paths should be chosen based on interests and aptitudes,
free from gendered expectations and stereotypes
-unlocking the potential of all women and girls
b. it actually insults a traditional role women have always had
(it sees the at home role not as useful but as a burden and
lack of work, productivity or participation in the economy.
It stereotypes the at home role as ‘just’ a housewife and clearly
considers those who do it failures, not using their skills
It quotes economics documents that in their own text
refer to women dropping out of the labor force, and losing
their skills and their skills atrophying if they are at home.
So it massively insults women while claiming to be an agent
to empower and respect women)
(It speaks of its great sympathy for marginalized women and yet
it itself marginalizes women who are in the home)
-it refers to women in traditional roles apparently who are
therefore’ held back from achieving their full potential”
6/ It claims to be flexible, adjusting to needs . However it is very inflexible in practice.
a. it claims to be flexible
-it is often challenging to find affordable and accessible child
care spaces that meet their needs
-indigenous childcare) strengthening high-quality,
culturally appropriate child care guided by indigenous
priorities
-meets the needs of indigenous families wherever they live
-allow providers to offer more flexible and full time hours
of care
b. it actually is very regimented and standardized, intractable
The options is just daycare. You can take it part time or full
time but that is surely not a very wide range of flexibility ot
funding. The money goes directly to the daycare so parents
do not even have a say in where to direct it or what
religion, language, culture of care to expose their child to.
In fact parents often have to live with the hours and rules
of a daycare that are very strict. In fact parents have to
pay for the daycare late fee pickup per minute.
In fact parents have to pay for the daycare space even
when their child is home sick and not able to attend.
The system is not flexible either for those who use the
daycare system or for those who have no access to
money unless they use the daycare system.
7. It says the care sector is vital, a key underpinning of the economy. Then it also says that those who have care roles in the home are hobbled by them, enduring a burden they need to escape.
a. it says the care sector is vital
-for far to long, the work women do, paid and unpaid, has been
systematically devalued by our economy and by our society
-it aims at a higher wage, above the median currently of
$19.20 an our
-this unpaid work is not valued in traditional economic terms
-covid 19 has highlighted the essential nature of many of
these jobs, especially front-line care work
-(during the pandemic ) unpaid care work -predominantly
carried out by women – increased as ..more meals needed to
be cooked at home and public health authorities recommended more
cleaning and disinfecting
-it acknowledges and praises the volunteer sector noting
that of the 2.4 million people in Canada who work in charitable
and non profit sectors, 70% are women.
-it calls childcare ‘infrastructure’ therefore likening
it to roads and bridges, an essential to an economy.
b. it says care roles are a burden to escape, and denies women or men at home who provide care even the label of childcare workers
-unpaid work cuts into the number of hours that women
can spend in the paid workforce
-(women) have overwhelmingly borne the burdens of
unpaid care work.
-to address the burden of unpaid work on women
-closure of schools and childcare centres exacerbated work-life
balance challenges (it sees the at home role not just as not
work but also as women being very unhappy to be there)
8.. It claims that daycare is a promise made long ago and finally fulfilled. Actually it was not a promise. And actually the promises were for valuing all care.
a. it claims daycare was a promise
It cites the 1970 Royal Commission on the Status of women as
calling on government to ‘establish a national daycare plan’ It says
this is a promise that it took 50 years to fulfill so uses emotional
language about promises .
b. actually the promise was to value all care
The actual document did recommend an emergency placement
for children who were unable to get care by parents or other
family members, but only a small and emergency back up plan.
The document actually said
The Royal Commission on the Status of Women recommends that the family be the unit of taxation. It also recommends a ‘substantial cash allowance’ of possibly $500, in monthly installments for dependent children to age 16, taxed for wealthy families, but universal. “No tax receipts would be required as evidence of child care expenses because the child care allowance would be paid to all mothers..The contribution made by mothers who stay home to care for children would be recognized and fewer mothers would be forced to work outside for financial reasons (it is never enacted) The Commission also noted that child development requires a stable relationship with the same adult during the first three years
There are many promises Canada has made that actually
argue for parental right to choose care style. The Convention
on the Rights of the child defends the right of the child
to be raised in the presence of the parent wherever possible
and the right of the parent to raise the child in the language
religion and values of the parent and the status of the parent
as most knowledgeable about the best interests of the child.
Canada also made a promise to value unpaid work, to tally
it and to call it work, to include it in national accounts and to
consider in every government department the effect of
legislation of the unpaid care sector and women. Canada
signed on to that promise at the UN .
9. It claims to promote and advance early learning, to reach education potential of all children. Actually it rides on the coattails of the reputation of actual schools, and in fact is not staffed by qualified certified teachers, has minima actual educational metrics and will not teach a child even to read.
a. it claims to be providing early education
– to offer each and every child the best start in life
-this will be a transformative project on a scale with the work
of previous generations of Canadians who built a public school system
-ensure that early childhood educators are at the heart of the system,
valuing their work
b. it actually is not able to promise, measure or provide educational guarantees of success
-the term of ‘high quality care’ has no metrics for literacy
or numeracy because those are not even goals of the
system.
-the system aims at ‘readiness to learn’ but actually kids
are born ready to learn
-the system aims at developmental staged care and
yet kids develop at vastly different pace and the system’ groups
them only by chronological age.
-the system claims to help kids develop and yet kids equally
well develop in the home. Early learning may happen in
the childcare center but it does not only happen there
or happen there better than in the care of a parent, grandparent
or nanny. In other words this document claims to uniquely
own a phenomenon that is provided widely in many other
locations as efficiently – as if claiming it alone offers
nutrition at one restaurant.
-there are studies by economists Miilligan and Lefebve
that have found that cognitive outcomes for kids in daycare
are actually not as good as in some other care locations
There is also a very troubling assumption evident in some
of the budget that hints that unless education is done
the official way of the white culture, that it is not really
education. This attitude is hinted at in the pages about
childcare and indigenous people where we read that
‘26% of indigenous opepole had no educational
credentials”. “Inuit men were most likely to report none”
It is shocking to read such a devaluing of the wisdom, experience
and culture of an entire group who are seen as flawed on
a basis outside their culture. This condescending attitude sadly
was a key flaw of the residential school system , the assumption
that kids in parental care are not getting useful training
in anything and that they must be taken from that environment
to ‘educate’ them the right way. It is an offensive assumption.
The daycare plan does not force kids away from parents and the
children are allowed to go home at night. However the financial
tilt to pressure parents to have to use the daycare, and the
heaping praise for the daycare option as somehow a better
educational approach, and exposing children to that
state approved language and values system daily for
most of early childhood will risk having effects similar
to denial of education in the parental traditions. This
could be a huge risk both to children’s wellbeing,
parental rights, and to risk of lawsuits directed
at a government that created such intense financial
pressure to only get that type of ‘education”
11. It claims to offer high quality care. However it is riding on the coattails of the good reputation of the high ethics of health care providers, and in fact does not offer care of the sick or handicapped at all. A sick child is told to leave the building.
a. it sounds like it offers comprehensive care
-to build a Canada wide child care system.
-this will be a transformative project on a scale with the work
of previous generations of Canadians, who built public health care
b. it actually does not offer health care at all
-a sick child is excluded from the daycare center if they
have any contagious condition at all
-there is little provision for handicapped children,
autistic children or even children with many allergies
-not only does the daycare plan not accommodate those
who are sick, so it is not really offering unconditional
care, but children actually get sick quite often. This
means that kids will be away from the daycare several
times a year on average but will still be obliged to
pay for the daycare’ space’ and all taxpayers will be
obliged to pay for ‘care’ that is not being provided.
This is an inefficient way to fund care.
In addition daycares put together in one room many small
children who have only a small understanding of personal
hygiene, handwashing, toileting and food safety.
The result is that viruses and infections spread widely in
a daycare. It is normal for an infection like flu or colds
or pink eye or even head lice to spread widely in a daycare
not just to the children but to the caregiver. It is true
that young children heal quickly from most minor infections
but it is also true that some do not, and that when they
are sick initially they are often very sick. This means
that the budget that promises that putting small children
into group care is good care may not be agreed by
all parents as optimal care. So the term use if somewhat
misleading. This is nothing like a public hospital
system.
13. It as a document appeals to emotions rather than focusing on logic.
a. it waves the flag
-a truly Canadian system of child care
-a Canada- wide early learning and childcare system
– a truly Canada wide system of childcare
– Canada also took to the stage as a leader in advancing
gender equality
-improve quality of life for all Canadians
b. it speaks in battle language
–we must continue to fight for gender equality
c. it personifies the goal as if it is a living thing we all should nurture
-it speaks of a robust economy, growing the economy
-working with provinces and territories to grow quality spaces
10. Its real agenda shows through clearly.
The budget document touches many emotional notes to sound ground breaking. Yet it only takes women from the home to paid work, as if that is the only way they can have value. So it hugely assists women who want at all times the career goal and is a dramatic way to give them by making all taxpayers pay for their daycare to get them there.
However by its conditions it actually devalues any roles women used to have or any creative ways they try to combine paid work and family that do not use daycare.
So it is not a full liberation, only a half liberation and along the way it is somewhat insulting to women actually.
By only valuing time spent away from the children, it runs a serious risk of discouraging parenting at all, leading to a decline in birth rate, In one generation that slow decline will lead to a much more startling lack of government revenue than is even imagined by this budget. And that would be a big problem for the economy – fewer taxpayers, in perpetuity.
If any government has taken for granted unpaid labor before, ignoring its anchor to the health care and education and social welfare system done for free, well just wait and see what happens when you knock down that support.. The bridge of the economy would lose a key pillar. The costs to pay professional level care for what used to be done at home gently, naturally, could be huge..
The 2021 budget is a political document and its focus is government
revenue, government jobs, and keeping unions happy..
(it wants Quebec votes, referring to the Quebec
daycare system ) which the people of Quebec are rightly proud of
(it wants union votes speaking of care workers needing good pay and
decrying any ‘lack of bargaining power among workers, as evidenced
by he decline in private sector unions
By calling the childcare plan infrastructure and comparing it to
universal free public education or universal health care it is
trying to make unionized daycare jobs an essential service
It really only values women if they have paid work.
which is a huge boon to the union’s power.
Equality and Caregiving 