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Media release: As the Harper Conservatives spend today awarding themselves a gold star for three years of their Universal Child Care Benefit, parents across the country are still struggling to find child care spaces, let alone affordable ones, Liberal Human Resources and Skills Development Critic Mike Savage said today. “In three years, this Conservative government has done absolutely nothing to address the real problem facing Canadian families – a nationwide shortage of affordable child care spaces,” said Mr. Savage. “The Conservatives are using today, the third anniversary of this benefit, as a forum to try and mislead Canadians about the state of child care in Canada. But parents know better – they’ve living this crisis every day. They are only too aware of the Conservatives’ broken 2006 election promise of 250,000 new child care spaces.” … Federal investment in early childhood development and the percentage of children in regulated spaces is one of the lowest amongst Canada’s counterparts in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). As waiting lists for spaces in communities across the country continue to grow, reports have concluded that the number of new spaces created under this Conservative government has dropped significantly. “For some families this situation has become a financial nightmare,” said Mr. Savage. “Some parents are not able to go to work because spaces simply do not exist in their communities, while other families have to pay beyond their means so their children will have a place to go. “Study after study tells us that early learning and child-care programs benefit our children’s learning and development, helping them excel later on. These children are the future of our country; they deserve the best possible start. Why does Stephen Harper not want the best for Canadian children?” - reprinted from the Liberal Party of Canada