Stephen Harper plans to create 125,000 new child care spaces
SOURCE Conservative Party news release, 6 December 06
Excerpts:

Stephen Harper detailed the Conservative plan to create 125,000 new child care spaces in the next five years.

A new Conservative government will:

- Create 125,000 new child care spaces over five years;
- Provide $10,000 in assistance to employers, including businesses and non-profit institutions, for each new child care space created;
- Allocate $250 million a year to employers who cover the full cost of creating spaces; and
- Design the program to ensure that small business and rural communities will be able to access it as well as larger employers and cities.

The program would cost $250 million a year and create 25,000 new spaces a year.

A new $1,200 choice in child care allowance for pre-school kids
SOURCE Conservative Party news release, 05 December 2005
Excerpts:

Conservative leader Stephen Harper today announced that a Conservative government will introduce a new $1,200 per year Choice in Child Care Allowance for children under six, and a $250 million Community Childcare Investment Program for capital assistance for new childcare spaces. The Choice in Child Care Allowance will apply to an estimated 2 million children of pre-school age.

“The Liberal plan sends money to provincial governments. The total cost of our plan will be $10.9 billion over five years, which is $4.7 billion more than the Liberals are planning,” said Harper. “Our plan providesmoney directly to parents. You can spend that money the way you see fit…”

The plan will help parents to choose the decision that best suits their families – whether it means formal child care, informal care through neighbours or relatives, or a parent staying at home.

The new Conservative plan has two components. First a Choice in Childcare Allowance will provide $1,200 per year for each pre-school child. Second, an annual $250 million Community Childcare Investment Program will provide capital assistance to help employers and communities create childcare spaces in the workplace, or through cooperative or community associations.

The new Choice in Child Care Allowance will be in addition to the current Canada Child Tax Benefit, National Child Benefit Supplement and the Child Care Expenses Deduction. The Conservatives will honour the government’s existing one-year bilateral commitments to provinces for institutional childcare.

The new Choice in Child Care Allowance will not be clawed back from middle-income families. Instead, it will be taxed in the hands of the lower-income spouse. In addition, the Conservatives will initiate a Community Childcare Investment Program will help employers and communities create child care spaces in the workplace or through cooperative or community associations by establishing a tax credit that will create an estimated 125,000 new child care spaces over five years.

 

Other documents

Stand up for Canada: Conservative Party of Canada federal election platform 2006
SOURCE Conservative Party of Canada website, 13 Jan 06

Key issues: Stand up for families
SOURCE: Conservative Party of Canada, 2005

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This list in not intended to be an exhaustive examination of this topic; for a more comprehensive list, search the Childcare Resource and Research Unit resource library catalogue Childcare Information Resource Collection (CIRC).