The Canadian Labour Congress has released report cards on the progress of child care in Canada. Click HERE to access the report cards. In the eyes of the CLC, things were not looking good. Here is a summary of their results:
- British Columbia: D-
- Alberta: D
- Saskatchewan: C
- Manitoba: B+
- Ontario: D
- Quebec: Exempted due to strong performance
- New Brunswick: C-
- Nova Scotia: C
- P.E.I.: C-
- Newfoundland and Labrador: C+
- Northwest Territories: C
- Yukon: C
- Nunavut: C
Here is an excerpt from a recent article published by CTV News.
British Columbia trailed all the other provinces, with a grade of D-minus.
The province’s report card said some improvement has been noted — but B.C. works too slowly, has trouble taking responsibility and is struggling with the concept of universal access and is falling behind in the areas of public funding, planning and reporting.
B.C.’s report card says the province struggles with basic child care concepts.
"Subsidies do not make child care affordable for all unless parent fees are capped at reasonable levels. Between 2001 and 2006, average full-time fees for children aged 3 to 5 increased by $672 per year," the report card states.
Sharon Gregson, a child care advocate in Vancouver, wasn’t shocked by B.C.’s poor score.
""I wasn’t surprised and I’m sure the parents paying over $1,000 a month or the parents on long waiting lists were not surprised either," Gregson told Canada AM.
The report card outlines a number of problems in B.C., including the fact it has child care spaces for only 14 per cent of the province’s children, despite the fact 75 per cent of the province’s mothers are in the workforce.
"Our fees are high and getting higher, our wages for our qualified staff are low and not rising the way they should be and we simply don’t have the spaces nor do we have a plan to build the spaces that we need in this province," Gregson said