Dinn Plans to Overhaul Provincial Childcare to Expand $10/Day Childcare to More Families
- NL NDP
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
For Release
August 29, 2025
Continuing to propose solutions to lower costs and get a better deal for families, NL NDP Leader Jim Dinn, joined by Laurabel Mba, NDP Candidate for Mount Scio, made his second campaign announcement: promising to overhaul the province’s $10/day childcare program and offer pensions and improved working conditions to early childhood educators (ECEs).
“One of the biggest expenses for young families is childcare. It can sometimes feel like a second mortgage,” said Dinn. “The $10/day childcare was supposed to help with that but a lot of families can’t get in – there aren’t enough spaces.”
A new report released last week from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) shows while the government continues to ‘announce’ new childcare spaces, the actual spaces available to families falls far below government targets.
In fact, Newfoundland and Labrador has one of the worst childcare deserts in the country, with 93% of families living in either a childcare desert or with inadequate coverage.
According to the federal government, $10/day childcare can save Newfoundland and Labrador families up to $6,300 per child. Dinn pointed to the fact that it’s lack of staffing that’s leading to spaces not actually opening up.
“Trying to expand childcare without hiring educators is like rowing a boat with one oar. You just end up spinning in circles – and families are stuck waiting,” said Dinn. “The fastest way we can lower costs for young families is to get them on $10/day childcare and to do that, we need to hire more early childhood educators.”
Dinn’s proposal is to work with childcare centres and ECEs to overhaul the system and attract more workers in order to open up more spaces. To start, a NL NDP government would improve working conditions for ECEs by paying for up to 10 days of paid sick leave per year and introducing a defined benefits pension, with the government contributing 10% of gross salary, for childcare workers.
“These are people who, because of the work they do, make it possible for me to run a business. I’m able to be in the workforce contributing to our economy. They are early childhood educators, not babysitters, and they need to be treated for the expertise they bring to the children of this province,” said Mba. “They are there, day in and day out, providing this care that is essential for parents to work, and they are not treated like the essential resource that they are.”
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For more information, please contact communications@nlndp.ca
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