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Monte Solberg chose Winnipeg as the city where he’d “celebrate” the one-year anniversary of the Conservatives’ taxable child allowance. CUPE and its coalition partners were there to cut through the spin, delivering the message that cheques aren’t child care.

Organized on very short notice, the demonstration brought together CUPE members and staff, as well as members of the Child Care Coalition of Manitoba. Their presence, complete with banners and picket signs, ensured Solberg and MP Vic Toews’ press conference wasn’t the good-news story the Conservatives were hoping for.

CUPE 744 member Mike Skatfeld brought his 16-month-old daughter with him, and told the media how he’d been on a waiting list for over two years and still didn’t have a child care spot for her.

After the media event was over, Solberg and Toews ducked out of the child care center by a back door, avoiding engaging with the protesters.

View photos of the demo here, and read CUPE’s media release here.