Dear Ottawa-based colleagues,

You are invited to come and join NACY for a brown bag lunch with Dr. Paul Kershaw, on Wednesday, February 8, 2012 from Noon to 1:30 pm. 

 

Dr. Kershaw is traveling across the country asking Canadians to consider carefully what can be done to address the reality that Canada has become a country in which it is harder to raise a family today than it was a generation ago. With Lynell Anderson, he released 10 reports last October --one for each province-- which show that incomes have stalled for young Canadian couples even though far more young women contribute employment income than they did in the 1970s. With stalled household incomes, young families must pay for higher housing prices. This leaves a generation raising young children that is squeezed for time at home, squeezed for income after housing, and squeezed for services like child care. 

 

Dr. Kershaw will host a policy dialogue over lunch and is inviting you to become better informed about the declining standard of living for the generation raising young kids, and to consider why UNICEF ranks Canada among the weakest countries when it comes to investing in policy for families with young children. After diagnosing the decline in the standard of living, Kershaw will present a New Deal for Families that proposes three policy changes: New Mom and New Dad Benefits; $10/day child care; and Flex-Time. He and Anderson have analyzed what these policy changes will mean for various families in all 10 provinces, and have analyzed the costs and benefits of investing in the New Deal in each province.