The growth of for-profit child care in Canada was the top concern for the National Child Care Working Group. The committee gathered in Ottawa November 22 –24 to examine ways to improve child care across Canada …

Early childhood education workers from across Canada warned that without a public system of early childhood education and care in Canada we won’t meet the needs of children and families.

“We are seeing too much growth in for-profit child care,” said Jamie Kass, co-chair of the committee. “We are very concerned about this trend because from our perspective, there is simply no place for profit making in child care.”…

“We know that quality affordable child care helps ease poverty, enables parents to enter the workforce and gives our children the best start in life, “ said Randi Gurholt-Seary, co-chair of the committee. “The problem is, too many families don’t have access to child care. Waiting lists are long, fees are too high and there is no system to guarantee access quality care.”