EXCERPTS
Re: “National daycare no panacea for working moms, ” Andrea Mrozek, Opinion, July 30.
National daycare would be better than what we have now. With quality spaces scarce and fees a second mortgage for many families, doing nothing is not an option any longer.
Andrea Mrozek claims that parents with irregular schedules or part-time work “would be left high and dry.” Exactly what situation does she think those parents are in now? Better funding to child care services would allow for more flexible care arrangements, not fewer.
Mrozek drags out the bogeyman of a federal government monopoly, but that’s not what is proposed. Instead, we are advocating that the federal government commit to sustained funding and come back to the table with the provinces so that, together with the community, we can develop more quality, affordable child care services.
As for denigrating public education, the Quebec child-care system and the labour movement, can Mrozek please leave that back in the last century, too?
Working women still face a pay gap and a motherhood penalty, and child care is still a women’s issue, as that responsibility still falls disproportionately on their shoulders. In 2015, child care should be everyone’s issue — that’s why I urge Canadians to vote with child care in mind on Oct. 19.
-Carolyn Ferns, Public policy co-ordinator, Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, Toronto ON
-reprinted from Calgary Herald