Prior to the last federal election, the Government of Canada signed five year agreements with all ten provinces that would see the investment of $1 billion a year in early learning and childcare.

Under these agreements, the provinces would invest the federal money in regulated, early learning and childcare programs for children under the age of six. The principle requirement was that investments meet the test of quality, universality, accessibility and development.

During the election campaign, the new Conservative Party promised to scrap the program and replace it with a $1,200 a year payment to parents with children under the age of six. In Canada, it’s estimated there are more than 2 million children under the age of six so the annual cost of such a program, not including administration will be at least $2.4 billion a year less the tax recovered from higher income families. That’s more than double the cost of the former government’s program.

The issue is not so much cost but value for money. The Liberal program, which is still promoted by most provincial premiers except in New Brunswick would see our provincial governments invest money in early learning programs, staff training and improved daycare facilities. The objective would be to ensure that parents can access high quality, safe, affordable child care and early learning programs.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports the average cost of day care in the United States in a range from $90 to $125 a week depending on family income. Canada doesn’t report on the same basis but Stats Canada estimates the average expenditure for child care services in 1999 at $2,515 a year. Based on prior year rates of increase, we could assume those costs would be in the $3,000 range today.

Now here’s the kicker. According to Stats Canada, more than half of Canadian families purchase some sort of child care service but only a quarter of that number are in a daycare centre. That’s roughly 250,000 children.

Logic would suggest that access to child care and early childhood learning is restricted by economic circumstance and/or lack of quality daycare spaces. That being the case, we have to wonder if a $1,200 a year payment to parents will lead to an increase in the number of daycare spaces and/or make early childhood learning more affordable.

The National Longitudinal Survey of Children indicates there are significant differences in daycare enrollment numbers by province. For example in Quebec where the Province provides a $5 a day per child subsidy to daycare centres, 41% of children are enrolled in daycare whereas in Saskatchewan only 10% of children attend a daycare centre. It’s 19% in Ontario and 22% in New Brunswick. It seems clear that there is some relationship between daycare enrollment and government intervention.

There is also a relationship between the education of the mother and the likelihood of daycare attendance. Results from the National Longitudinal Survey indicate that mothers who complete high school or attend college or university are more likely to enroll their children in early childhood programs than mothers who have not completed high school.

Children who have an early exposure to books and reading are twice as likely to perform mathematical tasks, recognize geometric shapes and understand simple concepts of time. This is true regardless of the mother’s education or household income.

Other studies suggest that children who are enrolled in early childhood programs get a head start in school when compared to youngsters who stay at home with a parent or relative. Children who attend early childhood programs perform better in mathematics and writing and generally achieve higher overall academic results than children who do not participate in early learning programs.

More than 60% of adults in New Brunswick are functionally illiterate. That is the highest rate of illiteracy in Canada. People with low literacy skills have the highest rates of school drop-out and the highest rates of unemployment. People, who have difficulty reading, spend up to four times as much time in hospitals as those who don’t have difficulty reading.

To break the cycle of illiteracy and early school drop-outs in New Brunswick, we have to change the way in which we introduce our children to learning. In most cases, that will require an out- of- home, structured environment with uniform standards and regulatory oversight. It’s not likely to happen if we simply send cheques to the parents of children under the age of six.

Investing that money in accessible early learning programs makes a heck of a lot more sense to me than paying stay-at-home-moms to stay at home. Quality daycare with trained staff can add to a child’s quality of life. It should not be viewed as replacement for a loving home environment but rather as an extended nurturing environment where children have the opportunity to learn, to explore and to gain self-confidence.

The international Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimates that 45% of new jobs that will be created in Canada this decade will require at least 16 years of formal education. That eliminates high-school drop-outs. That eliminates college and university drop-outs. If early childhood learning programs increase the odds of graduation then we have to demand access to early childhood learning programs now.

There is strong evidence that outside learning, at an early age and under the guidance of trained workers can produce much higher levels of academic and literacy skill than the average home environment.

There is no evidence to support the notion that publicly funded cash payments to parents will improve the academic performance of their children or increase their children’s’ levels of literacy.

Everyone in Canada has a stake in the difference.