Advocates decry state of Manitoba child care

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This article was published 25/02/2020 (1520 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A report card on the state of Manitoba daycare unveiled at the legislature Wednesday gives the province a grade of “worse.”

The number of children on the wait list for licensed care has increased by nearly 4,000 — to 16,605 in 2018 from 12,729 in 2016 — with fewer low-income families receiving a subsidy and operating grants remaining frozen, according to the Child Care Coalition of Manitoba.

“We are bringing folks together today to highlight the inaction on child care and the state of crisis it’s currently in,” coalition member and parent Brianne Goertzen said at a news conference displaying visual aids showing child care wait lists growing and access to affordable, regulated spaces shrinking.

“I understand the panic of having a maternity leave coming to an end and not yet having a child-care spot.”

Many expecting a child (including herself) worry about having daycare available when it’s time to go back to work, she said.

“The Manitoba Child Care registry knew I was expecting before even my friends and family did,” said Goertzen, who is also a Child Care Now board member.

Unregulated, for-profit daycare, and providing government vouchers to parents to pay for child care isn’t making the issue better or service more accessible, she said.

Alternative budget for daycare

It is hurting the economy now, by preventing people from going back to work, and in the future, with children whose parents can’t afford it missing out on early childhood education, Goertzen said. “I know first hand the benefit that quality child care can have on a child, as I witnessed it with my son.”

Having professional early childhood education available to all Manitoba children from all income levels would go a long way towards improving educational outcomes for kids in a province that lags behind others in test scores, she said.

“This is not about taking away the responsibility of the parent or diminishing the impact of parental care,” Goertzen said. “It’s about ensuring that parents can contribute to the economy and have peace of mind that their child is happy, safe, and learning (with) trained professionals who are educated.”

The coalition called on the province to set up a universally-accessible child care system, as recommended by the 2016 Manitoba Early Learning and Child Care Commission. The publicly funded study said the province needs to create 12,000 accessible, affordable, quality child care spaces in Manitoba within five years, and invest in the early learning and child care workforce.

Instead, the province hired consultants to study the issue, but won’t disclose details of the review nor how much it is spending to further examine child care needs, said Molly McCracken, Manitoba director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

The Child Care Coalition called on the province to cancel the consultant’s contract.

The Centre for Policy Alternatives released an excerpt from its soon-to-be released alternative budget addressing the “severe strain” felt by Manitoba’s child care system.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca