Child care is the care of a child, no matter who provides that care. Families have diverse care needs and rely on a variety of forms of care to meet those needs. Public policy best serves families when it offers flexibility and choice. Child-care policies should be equitable for all families, regardless of the type of care they choose. Universal child-care systems fail to recognize the diverse care needs of Canadian parents and their reasons for the type of care they choose.

• Of Canadian children under age six, about 40 percent are in parental care only. 1 1 Source: Statistics Canada, “Early Learning and Child Care for Children aged 0 to 5 years: A Provincial/Territorial Portrait,” https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-626-x/11-626-x2019013-eng.htm.
• Less than 3 percent of Canadian children under age six are in parental care because the parent could not find another option. 2 2 Source: Statistics Canada, “Early Learning and Child Care for Children aged 0 to 5 years: A Provincial/Territorial Portrait,” https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-626-x/11-626-x2019013-eng.htm.
• Of parents in Canada who use non-parental care, 64 percent report that they have no problem finding the care. 3 3 Source: Statistics Canada, “Early Learning and Child Care for Children aged 0 to 5 years: A Provincial/Territorial Portrait,” https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-626-x/11-626-x2019013-eng.htm.
• Of all Canadian children under age 6 (those in non-parental child care and those who are not) about 32 percent are in centre-based care or preschool. 4 4 Calculations based on Statistics Canada, “Table 42-10-0004-01 & Table 42-10-0005-01: Early Learning and Child Care for Children aged 0 to 5 years: A Provincial/Territorial Portrait,” https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-626-x/11-626-x2019013-eng.htm.