Excerpted from article

Child Care Now is calling on the federal government to engage in a full public consultation process prior to tabling Canada’s first-ever federal child care law. 

In February, federal officials circulated a government discussion paper on legislation to a small number of sector stakeholders. In reply, Child Care Now urged that sufficient time and resources be put to the legislative initiative in order to properly address the difficult and far-reaching legal, political, and practical challenges that come with legislating a social program that provinces and territories must deliver.

In its written submission, Child Care Now suggested that if the federal government insists on introducing legislation immediately, it should as a minimum be constructed to:

• promote equal opportunities for the wellbeing of Canadians 
• enshrine the right to early learning and child care 
• define the principles of universal quality, accessibility, affordability, and inclusivity
• include accountability mechanisms that, among other things, ensure federal funds are used to support evidence-based system building, and that these funds are properly accounted for to Parliament and to the public