Child care advocates and members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada held a socially distanced picket outside the office of Catherine McKenna, MP for Ottawa-Centre over the noon hour to call for immediate action on the child care crisis in the National Capital Region.
“While we have seen some positive signs moving us towards a national child care system, we’ve seen the same promise broken many times over the last 50 years,” said Amanda Quance of Child Care Now Ottawa, a local child care advocacy group. “This government needs to immediately inject at least $2 billion into recovery funds for Canada’s child care sector, while it develops a serious policy for building a real national child care system through its newly announced Secretariat.”
Monday’s Fall Economic Statement tabled by the Trudeau government made a number of child care commitments, but failed to announce significant new recovery money for operational funding or other pressing infrastructure needs. Child care advocates have warned of a mounting crisis that could set Canada’s child care delivery systems back decades if an immediate federal emergency response is not undertaken.
“This pandemic has shown us exactly why we need a strong national child care system. Our current market-based approach, which runs on unaffordable high fees, unstable operations, and terrible wages for early childhood educators isn’t enough.” said Quance. “While we are excited to hear that the federal government is planning to build a national child care system someday, they need to come through on this promise, and put real dollars and legislation in place, or they will be as bad as an unreliable babysitter who cancels.”
Child care advocates and members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada decorated McKenna’s office by taping up signs calling for universal child care and to save the Tunney’s day care centre. Federal workers were furious to hear in October that Tunney’s Daycare, a bilingual child care centre in McKenna’s riding, would be permanently closing due to pandemic pressures. The closure of Tunney’s Daycare eliminated 67 French-language and bilingual daycare spaces as the federal government failed to renew the rental subsidy agreement, essentially asking Tunney’s Daycare to pay its full rent of nearly $14,000 a month.
“Constituents in Ottawa-Centre deserve better than this, and that’s why we came out here today to let their MP know that they need to be doing so much more to support families during this crisis,” said Alex Silas, regional executive vice-president of PSAC’s National Capital Region. “There can be no equitable economic recovery from this pandemic without significant and immediate investment in a national child care plan, including emergency funding. Tunney’s is shutting down in McKenna’s own back yard, so we’re calling on her to take action on the issue.”
Members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada noted the worsening situation of child care and emergency child care options in Ottawa-Centre due to the pandemic, and have asked for a meeting with McKenna to discuss their concerns.
“Every day, parents are suffering as they grapple with day care fees and a patchwork of child care supports,” said Silas. “We need to increase access to affordable daycare and not eliminate options like the federal government is trying to do with 699 leave. A pandemic is not the time to be reducing options for emergency child care.”