Child Care Now advocate, Sue Delanoy says, with a federal election likely to be called very soon, child care advocates are anxious that the Saskatchewan government move quickly to negotiate a child care agreement with the federal government. She says they want to start work on making regulated services more affordable and available for Saskatchewan families.

Delanoy says, “We calculate that Saskatchewan’s share of the federal government’s child care offer is about $1.2 billion and the Government of Saskatchewan doesn’t have to spend a penny more to get those federal funds.” She says all the province has to do is agree to lower the cost of parent fees to $10 a day, increase the availability of services for children under six, and improve the wages and working conditions of early childhood educators to attract and retain more qualified staff to the sector.

Delanoy says there is a strong consensus across Canada that bringing down parent fees and making early learning child care more available will speed up economic recovery from the pandemic because it will enable mothers with young children to participate in the paid labour force.