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On November 30th, the Child Care Coalition of Manitoba in alliance with Child Care Now is holding a press confrence at the Manitoba Legislature at noon today.
Across Canada, parents are seeing their childcare fees drop. But this is not happening in Manitoba. More than a year after the Manitoba government signed onto the federal government’s national child care agreement, families in Manitoba have not seen their childcare fees reduced.
Under the Canada-Manitoba Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement (2021-2026), Manitoba promised many changes. The first is “providing a 50% reduction in average parent fees in regulated ELCC by the end of 2022 and reaching an average of $10/day by fiscal year 2025/6 for all regulated child care spaces.”
All other provinces in Canada have seen child care fees go down as a result of provincial and federal governments partnering on affordability. Manitoba is the only province where child care fees have not been reduced at all.
“Manitoba needs an affordable and high-quality child care system,” said Susan Prentice, Duff Roblin Professor of Government at the University of Manitoba and a member of the Child Care Coalition of Manitoba. “Unfortunately, while every other province is moving to $10/day fees, here in Manitoba the provincial government has opted for a patchwork subsidy approach that only adds more paperwork and administrative burden for families and facilities.”
“When I first heard about the plan for $10-a-day child care, I was excited because lower fees would really help my family’s budget,” said Lori Isber, a parent and the chair of the Fort Rouge Child Care Centre. “But it has been over a year since the government promised to reduce child care fees and my fees are the same, all while the cost of everything else continues to go up.”
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