EXCERPTS
Pregnancy should be a blissful time when a mamma-to-be should be resting, eating right and picking out baby names. Not a time for worry and stress. But almost immediately after the good news is shared, it's on to reserving a spot on your daycare-of-choice waiting list.
Even though this unknown child will not actually attend the chosen centre for another year and nine months, it's the first thing expectant parents are worrying about, next to a healthy pregnancy.
To what do we owe this worry and need? Is it a lack of daycare space, a deficit of funds, a shortage of professional caregivers, or all the above?
Canada is one of only a few developed nations without a national child-care plan. There is a $100-a-child monthly Universal Child Care Benefit that was put in place to offset the Tories' elimination of the Liberals' short-lived $5-billion child-care funding program. However, the problem with this benefit is that it's taxable and doesn't come close to covering the real monthly costs of child care.
With more and more women entering the workforce, quality child-care spaces are more important than ever. Only an estimated 20 per cent of children under the age of 6 have access to licensed child-care services, which leaves a whopping 80 per cent without care.
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Can we count on our government to protect our children? They are the future of our society and our most valuable resource.
- reprinted from Canada.com