Edmonton Social Planning Council

Category: ESPC in the News

Op-Ed: Child Care Should Be a Priority in Edmonton’s Civic Election

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Note: this op-ed was originally published in the Edmonton Journal on September 23, 2021.

By Jeff Bisanz, Jennifer Fischer-Summers, and Brett Lambert

Child care became a ballot box issue for the federal election. With the Liberals proposing a national early learning and child-care plan as part of the 2021 federal budget, a lot is at stake. The proposal is to build a national system that is both high-quality and affordable for Canadian families, with the goal to reduce fees to $10 per day within five years. Universal child care has many benefits for families and children, including improved educational outcomes, increases in women’s employment and income, and reduction in social and economic inequities. Eight provinces and territories have reached an agreement with the federal government. Alberta is not yet one of them.

With all the attention focused on the federal campaign, it can be easy to lose sight of the fact that child care should also be a ballot-box issue for the upcoming municipal election. Edmonton’s city council and school boards have a lot to contribute within their authority that can build on the federal proposal and enable a universal system to work within our local context.

The Edmonton Social Planning Council, together with the Edmonton Council for Early Learning and Care, recently held virtual events with expert panelists that shed light on the benefits of universal child care and what city council and school boards can do to further this cause.

Child care is an economic and social priority for Edmonton. EndPovertyEdmonton names affordable, quality child care as one of six game-changers for eliminating poverty. The Edmonton City Plan supports enabling accessible child care throughout the city. The Edmonton Economic Action Plan promotes affordable, accessible, high-quality, and inclusive early learning and care. While Edmonton is moving in the right direction, more can be done.

Edmonton could introduce a municipal early learning and care policy as a formal commitment, akin to what exists in other cities such as Burnaby and Richmond. Edmonton could then develop a city-level strategy and action plan, similar to what Jasper is currently undertaking. Edmonton can also follow the lead of Lethbridge by advocating to senior levels of government.

Establishing and facilitating partnerships between governments, school boards, and community is key to addressing barriers related to child care in Edmonton. Co-ordinating use of publicly funded facilities can help address capacity issues, such as creating dedicated spaces in city-owned facilities and public schools. Supporting high-quality demonstration centres can help early childhood educators be more culturally responsive to the needs of Indigenous, immigrant, and refugee families.

Municipalities control land use, zoning, and neighbourhood development. To ensure that Edmonton grows as a connected, adaptable, and livable city, child care must be located near where people live, work, and learn. The City of Edmonton has the authority to co-ordinate local planning, management, and support for child care. Child care needs must be integrated into current and future city planning. Strategic linkages between municipal goals and child-care priorities would enable the City of Edmonton to work effectively toward a coherent vision for children, families, and communities.

School boards provide free programming, funded by Alberta Education, for some preschool children who need preventive support to prepare for school entry. This service helps to prepare these children for later success in school and beyond. School boards can do more in partnership with city and provincial governments. They can share data so that child-care needs can be anticipated and addressed in a resourceful way. They can collaborate to ensure high-quality programming and mutually beneficial professional development for early childhood educators. Schools can partner with child care providers to co-ordinate services so that children can experience continuity of care, and needs can be met for inclusive and culturally sensitive learning environments.

Building an integrated system of early learning and care that is high-quality, affordable, accessible, inclusive, and flexible will require co-ordination at all levels of government. Municipalities and school boards are integral to ensuring that an emerging system of universal child care will be implemented to meet the particular needs of our communities.

Voters would be well-served to ask candidates running for mayor, city councillor, and school board trustee how they will work with senior levels of governments toward building a universal, affordable, and inclusive child-care system.

Jeff Bisanz is Co-Chair of the Edmonton Council for Early Learning and Care.

Jennifer Fischer-Summers is Research Assistant at the Community-University Partnership for the Study of Children, Youth, and Families.

Brett Lambert is Community Engagement Coordinator of the Edmonton Social Planning Council.

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September 23, 2021
ESPC in the News: Susan Morrissey reacts to the Canada-Alberta Housing Benefit announcement on 630 CHED with Shaye Ganam

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On July 8, 2021, our Executive Director Susan Morrissey appeared on 630 CHED with Shaye Ganam to discuss the recent announcement of the Canada-Alberta Housing Benefit, which will provide $444 million in funding (cost-matched between the federal and provincial government) designed to provide rental assistance to low-income Albertans. This program is expected to assist 35,500 Albertans in need.

Morrissey discussed why this program represents a big step forward in providing robust supports to renters in the province.

“Under the old system, the money would follow the rental unit. Under the new system, it follows the individual which not only is more respectful and dignified, but also allows individuals to not necessarily get stuck in that bottleneck that there’s not enough units [to meet the need].”

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July 9, 2021
Op-Ed: Alberta needs to provide more robust relief for struggling families

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Note: this op-ed was first published in the Edmonton Journal on May 27, 2021 (p. A6).

Written by Sydney Sheloff and Brett Lambert

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted nearly all segments of our society, especially vulnerable and marginalized groups. Families with children have particularly felt the effects due to the back and forth between the closing and re-opening of schools and child-care centres as successive waves of the virus spread through the community.

The pandemic has taken a toll on the economy, contributing to high unemployment rates and increased financial instability. At the same time, families are having to contend with increased costs related to food, child care, virtual or in-person learning, face masks, and other expenses. What is needed during this trying time is relief and stability to alleviate and reduce poverty. Child benefits are an important measure towards that end. The Edmonton Social Planning Council has long touted the advantages of enhanced child benefits for low-income families.

Fortunately, the federal Canada Child Benefit (CCB) delivers tax-free monthly payments to families to help with costs related to raising children under the age of 18. For many families, it is a crucial stabilizer and has been credited with lifting nearly 300,000 children out of poverty. Positive impacts of child benefits include improved educational outcomes, food security, and stronger social cohesion. It also has the advantage of efficiently delivering relief during times of crisis. This was on display when the federal government distributed an extra payment of $300 per child through the CCB during the beginning of the pandemic in May 2020.

Acknowledging that COVID-19 has continued to impact families, extra payments totalling a maximum of $1,200 per child under the age of six are being sent to families in 2021 through the CCB young child supplement. The first in a series of payments is expected to reach families on May 28.

Despite these robust investments in child benefits on a federal level, unfortunately, the same cannot be extended to the provincial Alberta Child and Family Benefit (ACFB). While the provincial benefit – which was revamped from the previous Alberta Child Benefit and the Alberta Family Employment Tax Credit and collapsed into a single program in July 2020 – does provide a 15-per-cent increase in benefits for the lowest-income families compared to the previous iteration of the program, the benefit levels drop off more quickly as incomes rise.

For example, a dual-income family with two children that made an annual household income of $41,000 would have received $2,640 in benefits in the previous program. Under the current ACFB, this same family would only receive $2,296. Every penny counts when you are raising children and even small reductions set families back. Moreover, the fact that these changes were implemented as Alberta was plunged into a pandemic as families were forced to navigate various restrictions did not make life easier for many working families. In addition, there have not been any plans to bring in pandemic-related enhancements to act as a bridge between the boosts to the federal program.

To be sure, the province did announce a one-time payment of $561 per child through the Working Parent Benefit for March 2021. While this measure was helpful, this benefit was only available to parents with children enrolled in a child care program, limiting the reach and scope of the relief.

If we are to emerge from the other side of this pandemic fully intact, more robust relief measures that prioritize the well-being of families and children in contending with rising costs are needed from the provincial government. A re-tooling of the ACFB to be responsive to upheavals like the pandemic has the potential to transform the program to be nimble and dynamic. Allowing the provincial program to be under-utilized only furthers the risk of families that are already struggling and falling even further behind. A complete and successful recovery for families needs robust co-ordination between both orders of government.

Sydney Sheloff is Research Officer for the Edmonton Social Planning Council.

Brett Lambert is Community Engagement Coordinator for the Edmonton Social Planning Council.

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May 27, 2021
ESPC in the News: Susan Morrissey discusses food security in EDify magazine

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In the April 2021 issue of Edify magazine (formerly known as Avenue magazine), our Executive Director Susan Morrissey was quoted in an article about food security initiatives in Edmonton that have been undertaken since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Excerpt: “Morrissey said COVID ‘is shining the spotlight on the vulnerable.’ As the virus forces people out of work, prices at the grocery stores are rising. These are adding to trends regarding food affordability and access that ESPC was seeing pre-pandemic.

‘When you are making the minimum, and 30 per cent of what you make goes to paying your rent, there’s not enough left over for good nutritious food,’ she says.” (p. 15)

The issue is available free on stands across the city and online here: https://bit.ly/3dDVNhs

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April 13, 2021
Op-Ed: Hero-pay raises are the least we can do for frontline workers

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Note: this op-ed originally ran in the Edmonton Journal on December 9, 2020.

Written by Sydney Sheloff and Brett Lambert

When the COVID-19 pandemic caused lockdowns for much of Canada’s economy back in March, an interesting thing happened. The contributions of those working minimum wage or low-income jobs – whether they were grocery store cashiers, delivery drivers, warehouse workers fulfilling online shopping orders, aides in long-term care facilities, among others – were now considered essential. It became immediately clear that their work needed to continue in order to make sure food and other goods were readily available to the public. The only problem? Their essential work did not provide them with a living wage that allowed them to sufficiently provide for themselves, their families, and reach basic financial security.

In order to address this disparity and to make sure these workers still showed up in the face of tremendous risk, workers at major grocery chains such as Loblaws, Save-on-Foods, and Safeway were given a temporary pay raise – usually $2 per hour – in acknowledgment of their hard work.

This increase – often called “hero pay” – was a boon for these workers. Many reported feeling greater financial security, being able to afford their bills without having to choose which ones to pay, and worker morale improved with a sense they were more appreciated by their employer. However, by the summer time, the grocery chains phased out their bonus pay as the economy started to re-open and active cases of COVID-19 were declining.

Now that Canada and much of the world is experiencing a brutal second wave of infections that has surpassed the worst of the first wave, it is time for hero pay to be brought back to the table.

The Edmonton Social Planning Council’s latest edition of Tracking the Trends keeps track of short-term and long-term trends in Edmonton’s social well-being. The evidence is clear that normalizing a living wage for essential services is long overdue, especially during a public health emergency like this.

An average of 117,300 employed persons were earning less than the living wage in the Edmonton area, which we have calculated to be $16.51 per hour as of 2019. Almost two-thirds of these workers are women. The cost of living in Edmonton continues to increase steadily over time with inflation increasing by 17.8% and food costs rising at double the rate of inflation over the last 20 years. With the pandemic requiring everyone to isolate, many are turning to food delivery services to remain safe and as a result, they are burdened with additional fees for delivery. These trends suggest these living costs will not be improving anytime soon.

Keeping wages stagnant does not serve those who are literally risking their lives to make sure food is stocked on store shelves. The added stress of dealing with the uncertainty of customers complying with public health measures – such as wearing a mask – makes their work environment that much more stressful.

To their credit, the grocery chain Sobeys has wisely decided to reinstate this bonus pay to their workers in parts of Manitoba and Ontario where lockdown measures are in place. This indicates they understand the pressures these workers are under. We would strongly encourage other grocery stores – big and small – to show that they value their workers’ contributions by bringing back their own hero pay nationwide, including Edmonton where new emergency measures are in place. Once the pandemic subsides and a vaccine is readily available, this bonus pay should be made a permanent part of their workplace policies as everybody should be able to make a livable income.

After all, do we want these workers to continue to make difficult decisions on whether to pay their heating bill or forgo other expenses? If we are sincere in lauding their work as heroic, these pay raises are the bare minimum we can extend to them.

Sydney Sheloff is Research Officer for the Edmonton Social Planning Council.

Brett Lambert is Community Engagement Coordinator for the Edmonton Social Planning Council.

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December 9, 2020
Letter to the Editor: City’s plan for homeless applauded

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Note: This letter to the editor was originally published in the Edmonton Journal on October 15, 2020.

The Edmonton Social Planning Council applauds Edmonton’s rapid plan to end homelessness in the city. With winter on the horizon and the adverse impacts of COVID-19 on vulnerable and marginalized populations, quick action to address those living without stable housing is an ongoing and pressing concern.

Although a lot of progress has been made — homelessness has been cut in half since 2008 — 1,931 people are still experiencing homelessness as of September. This number has increased by about 20 per cent since August 2019 (when it was 1,607), which has placed Edmonton short of achieving the original 10-year plan to end homelessness (now in year 11) as laid out by the city and Homeward Trust.

Setting up a 24/7 accommodation site at the Edmonton Convention Centre followed by plans to transition recipients to bridge housing and permanent supportive housing has the potential to make up for lost ground in a relatively short period of time, if implemented correctly. This plan must be accompanied by measures that address root causes of homelessness, such as more affordable housing units with necessary supports for mental health and trauma-informed solutions.

We urge the municipal government to continue to work collaboratively with the provincial and federal governments, alongside community organizations delivering crucial frontline supports, to secure necessary funding and see this plan come to fruition.

Susan Morrissey, Executive Director
Edmonton Social Planning Council

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October 15, 2020