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Child Care Now is looking forward to helping the newly re-elected Liberal government and Canada’s new Parliament develop and enact a plan to make high-quality early childhood education and child care affordable, accessible and inclusive for all families across Canada.
“We were very glad that the Liberal Party of Canada, NDP and Green Party all made promises during the election campaign to tackle the child care crisis on a priority basis,” said Morna Ballantyne, Executive Director of Child Care Now, Canada’s child care advocacy organization. “We expect to see their pledges reflected in the mandates the Prime Minister gives to his Cabinet ministers, as well as in the first federal budget.”
Prior to the election, Child Care Now released its own Affordable Child Care for All Plan, which was endorsed by more than one hundred organizations from the Girl Guides of Canada to the Canadian Women’s Chamber of Commerce. The plan calls on the federal government to use its spending power and legislative authority, in collaboration with the provinces and territories, to expand licensed child care services, lower parent fees and improve quality.
“The Liberals and NDP put key elements of our plan in their election platforms including our call to increase federal funding for early learning and child care significantly, and to establish a national child care secretariat to coordinate everything that needs to be done to build a pan-Canadian child care system,” said Ballantyne. “These are two things that can and must happen and we call on the government to do so without delay.”