A lack of quality childcare, particularly for children under the age of three, is putting kids at risk, says Petra Sinats, project coordinator for the Young Parents Support Network.

“In my day-to-day contact, I’m hearing people say, ‘I want to get off welfare, but I can’t find childcare. I want to get a job, I want to go to school, but I can’t find childcare for my two-year-old, so I’m stuck,’” says Sinats. When young parents cannot find childcare, it prevents them from planning for the future, she says. Or parents end up using childcare they know is substandard……

Local NDP MLA Denise Savoie says all these issues are addressed in a bill she sponsored which recently passed second reading. Should it pass third reading in February, the Early Learning and Child Care Act would guarantee yearly transfers of federal money tied to the delivery of high-quality, universal and accessible childcare, she says.

“I have hundreds and hundreds of e-mails about the wait lists and the costs [of childcare],” says Savoie, adding those emails come from employers, not just parents.

The act, Bill C-303, requires that group childcare be provided by non-profit centres, except for those for-profit centres currently in operation, which would be grandfathered in. For provinces to continue receiving the money, they would have to report annually on the way it is spent, specifying such things as the ratio of children to caregivers, the training of caregivers, the cost to parents and the wages of caregivers…..

“I think the Conservatives are feeling the pressure on this bill, because they’re hearing from not just traditional NDP supporters—this is coming from across the spectrum.”