Manitobans say affordable daycare a priority: poll

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This article was published 24/10/2016 (2739 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The number of home-based daycare spaces dropped by 27 per cent under the NDP and the Pallister government will encourage entrepreneurs to reverse that, Families Minister Scott Fielding said Tuesday.

Fielding said in an interview he had not yet reviewed a Probe Research survey released Tuesday by the Manitoba Child Care Association, which showed 75 per cent of those polled want universal daycare to be a high priority.

But the government is developing a balanced approach to child care in which home-based daycares will play a significant role, the minister said.

The Probe Research poll conducted in September shows 75 per cent of Manitobans polled believe universal child care — a space available for every child whose family wants one — should be a priority of the Pallister government, with 22 per cent identifying it as the top priority.

And 58 per cent said they were willing to “pay a little more in taxes” to get universal child care, MCCA executive director Pat Wege said. As of Sept. 30, there were 15,273 children on the online registry waiting list for a child care space.

As he told the house earlier Tuesday during question period, Fielding said he inherited that waiting list from the NDP. And as he had under questioning from New Democrat Nahanni Fontaine, Fielding wouldn’t say in an interview how many public child care spaces the government will create this year.

“We’re putting together a balanced plan,” Fielding said, which will include “allowing entrepreneurs to establish home-based daycares. There’s too much red tape in the system now.”

The Tories said during the election campaign they want to see child care centres linked to schools, which Fielding suggested could be achieved through partnerships between schools and home-based daycares. “It’s not the only answer,” said Fielding, whose three children went to home-based daycares.

He acknowledged an NDP policy of requiring daycare centres in every new school or every school undergoing major renovation is still on the books, but would not commit to continuing that policy.

The MCCA poll also showed that 64 per cent believe child care should be part of the education system.

Additionally, the MCCA said, “Winnipeg residents and those with a child in child care prefer child care centres; rural residents and middle-age men prefer home-based child care.”

Probe conducted the random poll of 1,000 adult Manitobans between Sept. 13 and 26.

Probe is conducting three additional surveys for the MCCA of parents with kids in child care centres, child care workers, and business leaders to assess how child care availability affects the workplace.

During question period, Fontaine said the waiting list has grown since the Tories took office. She said during the NDP’s time in power, child care funding tripled and the spaces doubled: “This government looks as if it is frozen in time, with a plan no one has seen,” said Fontaine.

Responded Fielding: “The NDP don’t want to talk about home-based daycare.”

He said the Conservatives are investing more money in child care in Manitoba than has ever been invested here.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca

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