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Fraser Institute

Ottawa touts wait lists for dysfunctional child-care program

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4 minute read

From the Fraser Institute

By Matthew Lau

Ahead of its April 16 budget release, the Trudeau government effectively admitted its national child-care program, which it began implementing in 2021, has created widespread shortages. “We’re seeing wait lists increase across the country,” said Jenna Sudds, federal minister in charge of child care.

The government has tried to cast the shortages as the result of skyrocketing demand for a popular federal program. But when government makes billions of dollars in subsidies available, of course there will be massive demand among people wanting to get their hands on the cash. That doesn’t mean the program is a success; it means the government is wrecking a market by throwing supply and demand out of whack.

Vancouver has a shortfall of about 15,000 child-care spaces for children up to age 12. In Niagara Region, the wait list for toddlers and preschoolers has expanded by 227 per cent in just the past two years. Clearly, the child-care sector has been thrown into disorder.

But if shortages illustrate a government program’s benefits, then the average 44-week wait time to get orthopedic surgery in Canada is evidence of the success of government health care. Our health-care system must be great—look how many people are lining up for it!

To try to mitigate the shortages, the Trudeau government announced $1 billion in low-interest loans and $60 million in non-repayable grants to expand and renovate child-care spaces. Additional money will be spent in the form of student loan forgiveness and training for workers in the sector. Both the shortages and new spending confirm what skeptics of national government daycare predicted from the outset—the original budget of $30 billion over five years, then $9.2 billion annually after that, underestimated what taxpayers would eventually shell out.

The new spending also exacerbates two government-created problems in child care. The first is that the $1 billion in loans and $60 million in grants are available only to public and non-profit providers. So excluded from the program are parents who want to take care of children at home, children who are cared for by grandparents or other relatives, and private for-profit providers. Instead of getting child-care help, they’ll foot the tax bill to pay for the government-preferred forms of child care.

The discrimination against private for-profit providers is a clear problem with the existing federal child-care strategy. “Frankly, Canada’s national daycare system excludes many more Canadians than it includes,” Cardus researcher Andrea Mrozek wrote last year. In Nova Scotia, where the federal government wants to move “to a fully not-for-profit and publicly managed system,” even provincial Liberal Leader Zach Churchill has lamented the exclusion of the private sector.

The second problem made worse is the spending is done increasingly through different streams and programs, diverting money towards administrative and bureaucratic bloat instead of actual child care. Based on a municipal memo back in 2022, it’s already estimated Peel Region in Ontario needs 40 additional bureaucrats to deal with child care. In British Columbia, the City of Cranbrook recently issued a 26-page request for proposals for consultants to prepare grant applications to the provincial government for child-care funds.

The ever-increasing government budget for child care, apparently, is great for the government sector and consultants hired to help move government money around. It’s a disaster, however, for parents who cannot find child care and taxpayers who pay billions for shortages—a reality unchanged by the Trudeau government’s latest announcement.

Business

Broken ‘equalization’ program bad for all provinces

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From the Fraser Institute

By Alex Whalen  and Tegan Hill

Back in the summer at a meeting in Halifax, several provincial premiers discussed a lawsuit meant to force the federal government to make changes to Canada’s equalization program. The suit—filed by Newfoundland and Labrador and backed by British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Alberta—effectively argues that the current formula isn’t fair. But while the question of “fairness” can be subjective, its clear the equalization program is broken.

In theory, the program equalizes the ability of provinces to deliver reasonably comparable services at a reasonably comparable level of taxation. Any province’s ability to pay is based on its “fiscal capacity”—that is, its ability to raise revenue.

This year, equalization payments will total a projected $25.3 billion with all provinces except B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan to receive some money. Whether due to higher incomes, higher employment or other factors, these three provinces have a greater ability to collect government revenue so they will not receive equalization.

However, contrary to the intent of the program, as recently as 2021, equalization program costs increased despite a decline in the fiscal capacity of oil-producing provinces such as Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador. In other words, the fiscal capacity gap among provinces was shrinking, yet recipient provinces still received a larger equalization payment.

Why? Because a “fixed-growth rule,” introduced by the Harper government in 2009, ensures that payments grow roughly in line with the economy—even if the gap between richer and poorer provinces shrinks. The result? Total equalization payments (before adjusting for inflation) increased by 19 per cent between 2015/16 and 2020/21 despite the gap in fiscal capacities between provinces shrinking during this time.

Moreover, the structure of the equalization program is also causing problems, even for recipient provinces, because it generates strong disincentives to natural resource development and the resulting economic growth because the program “claws back” equalization dollars when provinces raise revenue from natural resource development. Despite some changes to reduce this problem, one study estimated that a recipient province wishing to increase its natural resource revenues by a modest 10 per cent could face up to a 97 per cent claw back in equalization payments.

Put simply, provinces that generally do not receive equalization such as Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan have been punished for developing their resources, whereas recipient provinces such as Quebec and in the Maritimes have been rewarded for not developing theirs.

Finally, the current program design also encourages recipient provinces to maintain high personal and business income tax rates. While higher tax rates can reduce the incentive to work, invest and be productive, they also raise the national standard average tax rate, which is used in the equalization allocation formula. Therefore, provinces are incentivized to maintain high and economically damaging tax rates to maximize equalization payments.

Unless premiers push for reforms that will improve economic incentives and contain program costs, all provinces—recipient and non-recipient—will suffer the consequences.

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Alberta

Alberta’s fiscal update projects budget surplus, but fiscal fortunes could quickly turn

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From the Fraser Institute

By Tegan Hill

According to the recent mid-year update tabled Thursday, the Smith government projects a $4.6 billion surplus in 2024/25, up from the $2.9 billion surplus projected just a few months ago. Despite the good news, Premier Smith must reduce spending to avoid budget deficits.

The fiscal update projects resource revenue of $20.3 billion in 2024/25. Today’s relatively high—but very volatile—resource revenue (including oil and gas royalties) is helping finance today’s spending and maintain a balanced budget. But it will not last forever.

For perspective, in just the last decade the Alberta government’s annual resource revenue has been as low as $2.8 billion (2015/16) and as high as $25.2 billion (2022/23).

And while the resource revenue rollercoaster is currently in Alberta’s favor, Finance Minister Nate Horner acknowledges that “risks are on the rise” as oil prices have dropped considerably and forecasters are projecting downward pressure on prices—all of which impacts resource revenue.

In fact, the government’s own estimates show a $1 change in oil prices results in an estimated $630 million revenue swing. So while the Smith government plans to maintain a surplus in 2024/25, a small change in oil prices could quickly plunge Alberta back into deficit. Premier Smith has warned that her government may fall into a budget deficit this fiscal year.

This should come as no surprise. Alberta’s been on the resource revenue rollercoaster for decades. Successive governments have increased spending during the good times of high resource revenue, but failed to rein in spending when resource revenues fell.

Previous research has shown that, in Alberta, a $1 increase in resource revenue is associated with an estimated 56-cent increase in program spending the following fiscal year (on a per-person, inflation-adjusted basis). However, a decline in resource revenue is not similarly associated with a reduction in program spending. This pattern has led to historically high levels of government spending—and budget deficits—even in more recent years.

Consider this: If this fiscal year the Smith government received an average level of resource revenue (based on levels over the last 10 years), it would receive approximately $13,000 per Albertan. Yet the government plans to spend nearly $15,000 per Albertan this fiscal year (after adjusting for inflation). That’s a huge gap of roughly $2,000—and it means the government is continuing to take big risks with the provincial budget.

Of course, if the government falls back into deficit there are implications for everyday Albertans.

When the government runs a deficit, it accumulates debt, which Albertans must pay to service. In 2024/25, the government’s debt interest payments will cost each Albertan nearly $650. That’s largely because, despite running surpluses over the last few years, Albertans are still paying for debt accumulated during the most recent string of deficits from 2008/09 to 2020/21 (excluding 2014/15), which only ended when the government enjoyed an unexpected windfall in resource revenue in 2021/22.

According to Thursday’s mid-year fiscal update, Alberta’s finances continue to be at risk. To avoid deficits, the Smith government should meaningfully reduce spending so that it’s aligned with more reliable, stable levels of revenue.

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