Excerpts
The Higgs government says it needs to renegotiate its 2022 child-care agreement with the federal government to address a long wait list for spaces in the province.
Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Bill Hogan wants more flexibility to allocate some funding to for-profit daycares that would become eligible for subsidized spaces under the deal.
The agreement signed in April 2022 requires the funding to go to designated not-for-profit child-care centres.
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But Opposition Liberal Leader Susan Holt questioned Hogan's claim that the restriction on funding for-profit daycares was the obstacle.
She pointed to existing centres, such as the Carrefour Beausoleil in Miramichi, that she said are designated, not-for-profit and ready to expand if they can access the funding.
"He can help New Brunswickers today and he's not doing it," Holt said.
Around 3,000 families are on a waiting list for daycare spaces around the province.
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In question period, Holt said the 550 spaces described in the throne speech for this year don't go far enough to address the existing long wait list.
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The five-year federal-provincial agreement is worth $544 million, with Ottawa paying $492 million and New Brunswick putting in $53 million.
The province has also increased wages in the child-care sector, though Green MLA Kevin Arseneau said many workers are still leaving for better salaries as teacher assistants in the public school system.