A federal document reveals no evidence that a $30 billion national daycare program has led to an increase in mothers joining the workforce, contradicting statements made by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. Blacklock's Reporter says the Department of Social Development's briefing note challenges Freeland's assertions that the program has boosted the economy by increasing workforce participation among mothers.“At this time, there is little to no research proving to what extent the increase in the participation rate of core-aged mothers of young children has been driven by any particular factor,” the briefing note stated. The document emphasized that there was only “unconfirmed linkage between the implementation of Canada’s affordable care system and labour participation rates.”Freeland has frequently justified the program as an economic measure. “We said it would create economic opportunities for mothers all across Canada and thus greater prosperity for us all,” Freeland told the House of Commons in 2023. “It worked.” She also claimed, “I am so proud to say the labour force participation rate for Canadian women in their prime working years hit a record high. That is feminist economic policy.”However, the department's note indicated that there was no evidence to substantiate Freeland's claims. It also warned against using misleading statistics about working women to justify subsidized daycare, noting that “not all women are mothers.”The February 8 briefing note was prompted by a February 6 analysis from the Fraser Institute titled “Is The Federal Daycare Program Achieving Its Stated Goals?” The daycare plan had promised “the potential addition of 240,000 workers to the labour force and a potential 1.2% return on GDP in the long run.” Yet, the note stated there was no evidence to support these claims.“The federal secretariat on early learning and child care is working to determine the feasibility of examining the degree to which the Canada-wide system has directly caused these changes in labour force participation,” the note added. “To date, no reliable research is known or available to confirm causality.”The memo also cited conflicting Statistics Canada Labour Force figures from 2019 to 2023, which showed that employment rates among all working-age women remained virtually unchanged in half the country. In provinces such as British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, the increase was less than 1%. Moreover, among women who were mothers with young children, labour force participation rates actually fell in Saskatchewan and New Brunswick during the same period.
