For Immediate Release
17 May, 2023
NDP Leader Jim Dinn (MHA, St. John’s Centre) says a newly-released report on the state of national childcare has good advice, but he is not optimistic the provincial government will follow it.
“Not Done Yet,” a report on child care access released this week by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, spotlights child care “deserts” in the country. This province has the second-worst standing, with at least 80% of children under school-age living in an area where there are more than three children for every available child care space.
“The CCPA offers seven recommendations for governments to follow,” Dinn said today. “The first recommendation is to set clear targets and criteria for all aspects of expansion. Another is to develop a publicly-led, proactive, multi-faceted, multi-year plan, taking regional needs into consideration.
“Both those recommendations require foresight and hard work, and sadly, I have no reason to expect the current government is willing to do that work. I expect to continue hearing platitudes and piecemeal announcements that don’t really address the problem so many parents are facing today.”
The CCPA also recommends creating new high-quality public child care services and funding not-for-profit child care. Both these requests are long-time NDP policy, says Dinn, and he would be delighted to see government take such action.
“Ten dollar a day child care is a great start – or it would be if government had bothered to ensure there were available spaces and room for the sector to blossom,” said Dinn. “As it is, families are in turmoil once again because government was more interested in a headline than doing the hard work they’re elected to do.”
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For further information, contact Eddy St. Coeur, Director of Communications, NDP Caucus at 729-2137 (o), or eddystcoeur@gov.nl.ca