Watchdog woes

Also: Crosstown cluster, IESO gasses up, feds bail out

Presented by Serco Canada and Real North Strategies

ABOVE THE FOLD

A pair of watchdog reports hit the Clerk’s table — and it’s bleak news for women and nature. Let’s dig in.

LABOUR PAINS — Two days after Mother’s Day, the budget watchdog dropped troubling stats: the gender wage gap persists, there’s a “motherhood penalty” for those with young children, and $10-a-day child care might not be enough to improve a woman’s place in the labour market.

Daycare debacle: According to interim Financial Accountability Officer JEFFREY NOVAK (who’s taking the lead post-PETER WELTMAN), $10-a-day child care could allow up to roughly 100,000 women to get to work.

By the numbers: Labour participation rates for women with young children was up 2.4 percentage points soon after cheaper child care was brought in. And another potential 98,600 women could join them.

Caveat: That won’t happen unless the government creates more daycare spaces. Ontario’s promise for 71,000 new spots by 2026 is nowhere near the …