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Child Care Advocacy Poll Biased, Says REAL Women of Canada

By Gudrun Schultz

TORONTO, Ontario, June 21, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new poll, commissioned by the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada (CCAAC) and claiming that 76 per cent of Canadians support government funded day care, was based on skewed and misleading questions, according to REAL Women of Canada.

Gwendolyn Landolt, national vice-president of REAL Women, told LifeSiteNews.com that the CCAAC poll asked questions that were biased in favour of a national daycare program.

“It is totally slanted, the questions were set up to gain a desired response,” Ms. Landolt said. “The wording of the poll is so complicated—that is deliberate. The questions are leading; ‘national affordable child care to all parents who need it,’ of course people are going to say yes to that.”

The survey asked respondents, among other questions, if they agreed that Canadian child care programs provide a safe place for children, promote early learning and development, help prepare children for school, allow parents to participate in the workforce, and are “essential for the livelihood of low income families.”

Based on responses to that question, the CCAAC claimed that 76 per cent of Canadians support a national childcare system. When that number is broken down into the actual responses, however, it becomes a less compelling figure. While 43 per cent of Canadians strongly support a national system, 33 per cent only somewhat agree, and an additional 19 per cent disagree “somewhat” or “strongly.”

REAL Women suggested that a more accurate indication of Canadians’ position on childcare is to found in the actual childcare choices made by a majority of parents.

“Statistics Canada reported in February 2005 that only 13.1% of children are actually in child care compared to 47.5% of young children who stay home with their parents while one or both of them work or study,” stated the organization in a press release today. “The remaining 40% are looked after by relatives, friends or in other private arrangements. A growing number of parents are opting for care by a family member. Between 1995 and 2001, the proportion of children cared for by a relative rose from 22% to 32%.”

Ms. Landolt said the cost of a national childcare plan should have been included in the questions to give respondents an accurate view of the down side to the proposal.

REAL Women pointed out that the estimated cost of a universal institutional day care would be $12 to $15 billion dollars per year, according to a leaked Federal discussion paper from the Department of Health, published in 1999.

A study by the Ottawa-based Vanier Institute of the Family, released in February 2005, found that 90 percent of Canadians feel that pre-school children ideally should be cared for in the home.

The study found that daycare centres were low on the list of parents’ preferred childcare choices, ranking fifth behind a parent or partner, another relative, or a home daycare situation. Only friends and babysitters were less popular.

Environics Research conducted the poll by telephone interviews with 2,005 Canadian adults, between May 5 and 10, 2006. Results are considered accurate to within ±2.2 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

The CCAAC poll:
http://www.childcareadvocacy.ca/action/codeBlue/pdf/Public_Opinion_on_Child_Care...

The Vanier Institute study:
http://www.vifamily.ca/newsroom/press_feb_10_05_c.html#endnote

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