On May 26, 2021, Child Care Now’s Executive Director, Morna Ballantyne, presented to the Senate Committee of Social Affairs, Science, and Technology on the child care provisions of Bill C-30, the Act that will implement the federal budget tabled April 19, 2021.
Ballantyne’s presentation at the Senate Committee meeting addressed four key elements necessary to build a Canada-wide system of early learning and child care:
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Licensed child care operations must be publicly funded
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Expanding the supply of services must be made a government responsibility.
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A workforce strategy to address recruitment, retention and program quality must be implemented.
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Expansion of the system must be limited to the public and not-for-profit sectors.
The federal budget commits $30 billion in new spending for early learning and child care and the federal government intends to use that spending power to convince the provincial government to build the system of universal child care that women have been struggling to win for more than 50 years. Ms. Ballantyne closed her presentation by stating,
“Cynics say the budget’s child care promise will never be realised. Naysayers say the federal government is overstepping and imposing a one-size-fits-all solution. We say, it can be done, and it can be done right, if governments are guided by evidence. We say the federal government has a right and an obligation to build social infrastructure that will give parents real choice with respect to child care, provide a bridge for women to paid employment, and put the country on a path to economic recovery.”