Care in ECE Politics
A Note About Terminology
On this page, we use the term, childcare, because it was used in party platforms during the 2018 Ontario election. Our preferred term is early childhood education with an implicit understanding that care is central to all education.
As part of our research for Caring About Care, we analyzed 2018 election childcare platforms and interviewed Ontario politicians, policy makers and childcare advocates about the campaign platforms to gain insights into how advocates can best prepare for future elections.
The State of Childcare Policy in Ontario
The 2018 Provincial Election
The 2018 Ontario election was a pivotal moment in childcare policy – Liberal and NDP parties campaigned on building an accessible and affordable childcare system. Unfortunately, in every federal and provincial election since 1993, childcare has been a “losing” platform issue– and the 2018 election was no different.
Prior to the election, the Liberals released their budget, which included an ambitious childcare plan. The fact that they left such significant policy to the end of a four-year term shows how precarious childcare is within the political landscape. All too often, childcare is put on the back burner when more pressing political agendas arise.
Childcare Platforms
For the most part, the 2018 childcare platform framed it as a service to keep children physically safe while their parents worked. Consideration for the care and learning experiences of children in childcare was generally absent. Early childhood educators were invisible except in the Conservative childcare platform which indicated that childcare can be provided in many ways, for example, by “babysitters, grandparents, and nannies.”
Campaign Messaging
Our findings revealed that there is support for better childcare policies across political parties. If politicians and Canadian citizens aren’t opposed to it, the question becomes why universal childcare hasn’t had more political clout. We believe one answer has a lot to do with how childcare has been presented to the public. Through our interviews, we identified three messaging dilemmas that arose in political debate, discourse and public messaging related to ECE.
Messaging Pitfalls
1/ Personalization
2/ Complexity
3/ Feminist Politics
1/ Personalization
All parties used a personalization strategy – speaking directly to voters’ individual fears, anxieties and needs. Personalization focusses on the concrete, end result instead of the nitty-gritty details of how the policy will be developed and implemented.
When messages are highly personalized, parties don’t have to provide as many details. The more personalized the message, the less details parties have to provide about their childcare platform.
For conservatives emphasizing personal choice and freedom, their message was easier to personalize and possibly more effective as it was targeted at the individual (rather than group or demographic) level.
2/ Complexity
In 2018, all parties focused on simple messaging, cutting out information that would confuse or distract voters. Communicating their platforms clearly and simply was a necessity, but this made it challenging to communicate the nuances and complexities of their plans.
For the Conservative party, tax credits were easier to explain and already familiar to voters. The Liberals and NPD parties had a much more difficult task given. They had to explain how they would fund the plan. If they didn’t provide an explanation, their plans would be criticized for lacking details. But if they provided too many details, they risked overwhelming voters.
The challenge was to show the tip of the iceberg, while hinting at the infrastructure below the surface that would support the plan.
3/ Feminist Politics
Care is difficult to disentangle from gender, and talking about gender during an election can be divisive and risky. When female leaders talk about childcare, they’re often dismissed as promoting feminist and therefore their own politics.
As a result, some politicians and policy makers and advocates suggested that childcare be embedded within a broader social policy plan. At the same time some talked about the inevitability of discussing gender. Because the burden of childcare affects women much more than men, you can’t have female equality without universal childcare. With women making up 51% of the population, strengthening the lives of women strengthens society as a whole.
All parties used a personalization strategy – speaking directly to voters’ individual fears, anxieties and needs. Personalization focusses on the concrete, end result instead of the nitty-gritty details of how the policy will be developed and implemented.
When messages are highly personalized, parties don’t have to provide as many details. The more personalized the message, the less details parties have to provide about their childcare platform.
For conservatives emphasizing personal choice and freedom, their message was easier to personalize and possibly more effective as it was targeted at the individual (rather than group or demographic) level.
All parties used a personalization strategy – speaking directly to voters’ individual fears, anxieties and needs. Personalization focusses on the concrete, end result instead of the nitty-gritty details of how the policy will be developed and implemented.
When messages are highly personalized, parties don’t have to provide as many details. The more personalized the message, the less details parties have to provide about their childcare platform.
For conservatives emphasizing personal choice and freedom, their message was easier to personalize and possibly more effective as it was targeted at the individual (rather than group or demographic) level.
Care is difficult to disentangle from gender, and talking about gender during an election can be divisive and risky. When female leaders talk about childcare, they’re often dismissed as promoting feminist and therefore their own politics.
As a result, some politicians and policy makers and advocates suggested that childcare be embedded within a broader social policy plan. At the same time some talked about the inevitability of discussing gender. Because the burden of childcare affects women much more than men, you can’t have female equality without universal childcare. With women making up 51% of the population, strengthening the lives of women strengthens society as a whole.
Advice for the Future
Advocates and opposition parties need to work together to develop a comprehensive plan in preparation for the next election.
Politicians and advocates must provide a clear rationale for policy changes and account for the costs. More specifically, it is vital that all are able to compare a childcare system with a tax credit approach.
Move beyond describing childcare as solely a service that keeps children physically safe and protected. There is an urgent need to recognize the complex, ethical and gendered nature of ECE and the professionals who provide it.
Childcare won’t win votes on its own – it needs to be part of a broader social policy plan.
While personalizing messages helps to engage voters, it’s important that politicians and advocates are able and ready to provide details and rationales.
Childcare policies must be developed through consultation and implemented early in a government’s term rather than waiting to present new policy in a campaign platform (essentially a re-election issue).
Reason for Hope
Despite the outcome of the 2018 Ontario election, the fact that forms of universal childcare were a part of two parties’ election platform is a good sign that we’re moving forward.
Childcare is increasingly being seen as a public responsibility – it’s being transformed from a welfare service to a public good that we all need and want.
Even though it is hard to get comprehensive childcare policy in place (because it is difficult to imagine having accessible, affordable, “good” childcare services), it will be much harder to undo once in place.
