CUPE sounds the alarm about the latest big box child care operator in Canada
A new company called Edleun Group has set up shop in Canada with a goal to own ten per cent of the Canadian child care market.
Parents, child care providers and communities beware: this would be a major shift for Canada where child care is primarily operated on a non-profit basis that reflects the needs of children instead of shareholders.
Today in Canada there is a mix of for-profit, non-profit and public child care services providing a patchwork of services. Until now even the for-profit Canadian childcare businesses have remained relatively small, privately owned operations.
Edleun is the first publicly traded, child care corporation in Canada. The company’s emergence in Canada establishes a much more corporate child care operation than Canadians have yet experienced.
Child care advocates have learned that a market approach to child care simply doesn’t work. In the current global economic crisis Canadian governments need to develop public early learning and child care services that support children, their families and the country’s economic recovery.
When it comes to early learning and child care a public system is best. Child care providers must be beholden to the children and families they care for, not their shareholders. And while there are many good non-profit child care programs that have been the backbone of Canada’s child care services for decades, CUPE believes a public system would bring greater access, affordability and quality.
CUPE’s research branch has uncovered the story behind the Edleun Group.