The economics of child care

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Location:
Delta Fredericton
Woodstock Rd.
Fredericton
CA
Contact name: 
Rosella Melanson
Contact phone: 
1-800-332-3087
Details

The link between economic development and child care services will be the theme of a provincial conference next month aimed at economic development agencies and community leaders.

The Advisory Council on the Status of Women partnered with Business New Brunswick and Training and Employment Development to organize the Economics of Child Care event on November 19 in Fredericton. Early Childhood Care and Education N.B. is also collaborating in the organization.

Economist Gordon Cleveland of the University of Toronto and Charles Coffey, Vice-President of RBC Financial Group are among the conference speakers.

"This conference on child care is unusual because of its interest in the return on investment of quality child care services," said Mary Lou Stirling, chairperson of the New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women. "New Brunswick seems ready for this. We were certainly met with enthusiasm by both Minister Peter Mesheau of Business New Brunswick and Minister Margaret-Ann Blaney of Training and Employment Development when we suggested this initiative."

"Child care services are part of the infrastructure that enables people to get to work, just like a transportation system," according to Mary Lou Stirling. " Without child care services, employers have difficulty keeping staff and community development plans are stymied. And without quality child care services, children as well the economy suffer. Early child development shapes the health of individuals and of societies. It is also important to remember that economists tell us that public expenditures on good child care generate $2 in benefits for every $1 in new spending."

One of the conference presenters, Royal Bank of Canada's Charles Coffey, recently spoke at an international event on the cost of not doing enough in early childhood development and care. Lynell Anderson, a Certified General Accountant who co-authored a report on funding child care services, will speak on child care in Canada today. Gordon Cleveland, co-author of Eight Myths about Early Childhood Education and Care, will address the topic of investment in early learning and child care. Jane Bertrand, Executive Director of the Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development at the University of Toronto, will be speaking on integration of child care services. She is a Research Team Member of a project that is testing the integration of programs such as child care, kindergarten and family support programs into a seamless, community-based system.

Representatives of the Early Childhood Care and Education N.B., Janet Towers of Saint John, and Jody Dallaire of Moncton, will speak on the situation in the province and on integration of services.