Not to put too fine a point on it, but the mountain of evidence about the value of good child care should be more than enough to convince Canadian policy makers to act -- if there's any interest out there in evidence-based policy making. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) has been studied from the perspective of child development and early educational advantage, anti-poverty, balancing work and family, human rights/children's rights, women's equality and smart economics. New studies looking at child care every which way appear with exasperating regularity.

But few analyses have asked mothers of young children what they need, what's missing and what they think should be done about child care.

As the Canadian Union of Postal Workers has been locked in down-to-the-wire strike talks with Canada Post, many Canadians have forgotten that it was the fight for paid maternity leave that kept postal workers walking the picket line for 42 days in 1981. As a result, CUPW became the first national union to win a settlement for paid maternity leave -- topping up to 93% the 15 weeks of benefits at 60% of earnings the federal government had begun paying to eligible new mothers (with 20 weeks of insurable earnings) in 1972.