A new report which ranks Newfoundland and Labrador at the bottom of the heap of Canadian provinces when it comes to providing child care services should be a wake-up call to the Dunderdale government.
That suggestion comes today from CUPE NL President Wayne Lucas who says, “This confirms everything that we heard from families with young children back in September when we conducted a huge, province-wide poll on the issue.
“This survey showed that at every income level, parents in this province are struggling to find child care and soundly support the provincial government setting up child care programs as part of the public school system.”
Says Lucas, “It’s no coincidence that the three provinces that ranked highest in this new report – Quebec, PEI and Manitoba – have struck out boldly in this direction. In fact, we have been touting the PEI model as a great one because it’s a small province and it’s right here in Atlantic Canada.
“Our poll also showed that 86% of respondents are using relatives to provide care, while 65% are using a babysitter. This proves that our current setup which consists of a total domination of private, for profit providers has been a complete failure for Newfoundland and Labrador families.
“Our message to Premier Dunderdale and the responsible ministers is it’s time we started moving on a public child care system so we can fix something that is clearly broken,” says Lucas.