ST. JOHN’s – Mounties on horseback watched the growing crowd outside the premiers meeting here this week as it gathered to support an 85-foot-long petition containing 53,000 signatures demanding a national child care and early learning program.
See also:
- Paul Moist’s blog
- Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada
- Code Blue for Child Care petition campaign
- More photos from the rally
CUPE flags fluttered in a show of strong CUPE support for the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada (CCAAC) petition that was presented symbolically to the prime minister and the premiers.
National President Paul Moist addressed the crowd of mothers and children, making some pointed suggestions to the premiers. “A deal is a deal and the premiers should be united in their case for the Harper federal government to reinstate the signed agreements with provinces to provide a universal child care program,” Moist said.
“The Harper government has already dropped $3 billion dollars earmarked for child care,” he noted. “Women are the primary care-givers for child care yet over 80 per cent of women between the ages of 20 and 44 work outside the home. They need and want comprehensive child care and early childhood learning programs for their children. These programs also strengthen our economy and our communities.
Public, not-for-profit child care is just as essential to building strong and healthy communities as health care, public education, post-secondary education and municipal services, Moist added.
The Harper government’s plan for a $1,200 child care allowance is not a child care program because it fails to create much-needed child care spaces nor provides for early childhood learning.
Moist called on the premiers to send a strong united message to the federal government.