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Saskatchewan ranks dead last when it comes to available- and regulated- spaces for child care.
Those calling for an improvement to the situation say it's hurting the economy and plan to make it an election issue. Executive Director with the Saskatoon YWCA Barb MacPherson is giving government a failing grade when it comes to meeting child care needs in this province.
A new report released Monday shows child care spaces meet the needs for less than 10 per cent of children under the age of six. That number compares to about 20 per cent nationally.
MacPherson says people, particularly politicians, need to look at the issue in a big picture kind of way.
"Often people say, 'oh I don't have kids, it doesn't affect me.' But if you look at the cost benefit analysis, and how it can increase the financial stability of our province, it is everybody's issue," she said.
MacPherson is convinced there is a link between Saskatchewan's last place finish in this report, and a statistic that shows the province as having one of the highest rates of child poverty in Canada.
She believes a national child care program, supported by the provincial government, will help address both of these dismal rankings.
-reprinted from CKOM