Text of the press release:
Women will welcome the Liberal party's announcement today of a $500 million federal Early Childhood Learning and Care Fund, says YWCA Canada, the nation's second largest provider of child care services. The long-term goal of a "high-quality, affordable early childhood learning and care space for every Canadian family that wants one" is the social policy Canada needs. YWCA Canada's recently released report, Educated, Employed and Equal, shows women have closed the gender gap with men in employment numbers and reversed it in higher education without any national policy for early learning and child care services.
"This is the best news on the national child care front since the federal government tore up the Dryden Agreements in 2006," says Paulette Senior, CEO of YWCA Canada. "We'd be happy to see more funding sooner but, in terms of policy, this is the vision, and the funding will create new spaces. Women are not going to let a national child care strategy slip away again."
"The Early Learning and Child Care Fund announcement is a big step in the right direction," says Ann Decter, YWCA Canada's Director of Advocacy and Public Policy. "And so is the recognition that there's a shortage of high-quality, affordable child care. We expect all parties to follow suit and ensure child care services become a piece of the Canadian social structure. It's a sensible national policy response to the world as it is today."
"This federal money, combined with provincial dollars, will create services that are desperately needed by Canadian families today," says Andrea Calver, coordinator of the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care. "This is a significant commitment of money that will result in actual affordable child care spaces, and that's what's needed now."
The employment rate for women with children under 3 is just under 65%, an increase 233% since 1976. A national plan to ensure comprehensive access to quality, affordable early learning and child care services essential to Canadian prosperity, a crucial support for children and parents and a common sense response to a changed society.