Denise Savoie

MP DENISE SAVOIE TAKES THE NEXT STEP IN FIGHT FOR AFFORDABLE, QUALITY CHILD CARE

Victoria’s MP defends her Early Learning and Child Care Act before parliamentary Human Resources committee

OTTAWA – Victoria’s MP Denise Savoie took the next step to realize a national child care system by defending her private members’ bill – the NDP’s Early Learning and Child Care Act (Bill C-303) – at the start of parliamentary hearings on the legislation yesterday. If passed, Bill C-303 would ensure adequate, stable federal investment in childcare, so that affordable access to quality early learning opportunities is guaranteed.

“We all agree that good parenting and early learning opportunities are crucial for the future development of a child,” said Savoie. “We all agree that parents are responsible to help their children grow and thrive. And we all want to offer the best and widest range of choices for those parents to offer that good head start. The question, then, is how. The answer is, ‘By doing better than we are doing now.’”

Savoie referred to the recent report by the Council for Early Child Development, which found a “chaotic mess” of early learning programs in Canada. The report also points out that Canada ranks lowest among 30 OECD countries in the amount of funding provided for early learning.

Savoie also related the stories of some of the Victoria parents whose experiences inspired her to introduce and advocate for the bill.

“They must wait seven to eight months before they can get their name added to a wait list. Some parents start seeking out wait lists as soon as they know they are expecting,” said Savoie. “One parent said, ‘If I got a space in June I'd pay two months of child care just to keep the space for my son, and that's a lot of money for me.’ Another parent said, ‘We're moving up on some of the wait lists, but the closest we've come is number twelve. It's just not an option for one of us to stay home.’”

“This bill is for these parents and the countless others who find themselves in similar circumstances,” said Savoie.

Savoie also addressed some misunderstandings about the bill: “This bill was designed with positive intentions – not to weaken but to enhance current provincial and territorial early learning and child care systems; not to curtail, but to expand the current range of choices available to Canadian parents and their children.”

“Clearly we can pay now or we can pay later. But most certainly if [those children] who don’t have stimulating learning environments […] are not attended to, we will feel the consequences as a society. This early learning and childcare bill is an investment in our future to give all our children a head start.”