Canada is a country where childcare is low on the political agenda. In the UNICEF-IRC ranking of the well-being of young children in rich nations, published last year, Canada came bottom of the list, along with Ireland, with a ranking of 1 out of 10, because its childcare provision was so bad, and there was no coherent national policy to promote early education or childcare. (The UK was ranked 5 out of 10.)
Canada is a federal country, so one of the difficulties has always been the financial and legal relationships between the government and the different provinces of Canada. The provinces are very different from one another in their attitudes and policies. For instance, oil-rich Alberta has a very right-wing administration, and a thriving private sector childcare market. Ontario, which includes the buzzing city of Toronto, is traditionally more liberal, and is trying to extend its school system downwards to provide care and education for all children from the age three.
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