Manitoba election: NDP promises flexible $10-a-day childcare

Affordable childcare is shaping up to be a key issue in Manitoba’s provincial election.

The Manitoba NDP spent Sunday touting how their plan is tailored for shift workers.

The Opposition party is vowing to expand $10 a day childcare to include summer months for school-age children if elected in the October election.

Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew says parents could face child-\care costs ranging from $18 to $20-a-day during summer months, holidays and professional development days.

“Even when families are promised $10 a day, it’s not true, $10 a day childcare in Manitoba, at least not yet. There are many middle-class families facing high childcare costs,” said Kinew.

We’ll provide true $10/day childcare, more spaces and flexible hours. We’ll make sure that you have childcare that works when you work. pic.twitter.com/qablZ440i1

— Wab Kinew (@WabKinew) August 20, 2023

The NDP is also looking to make childcare hours more flexible for shift workers.

While he did not provide details as to how an NDP-government would do this, Kinew said he would prioritize providers that have flexible hours.

“Perhaps you’re the nurse who does shift work or you work construction,” said the NDP leader. “You may be working on the weekends or around the clock. Or perhaps you just struggle to get out of the office on time because of the busy demands of your work schedule. And as a result, you aren’t able to pick up the kids by a certain deadline that your childcare centre may have.”

The NDP’s announcement came after the governing PCs spent part of their summer committing millions of dollars for new childcare spaces.

While advocates are happy more attention is being placed on childcare, they say the parties are forgetting one thing: staffing.

“We know that there is a significant workforce challenge right now we are missing nearly a thousand certified ECEs within the system,” said Jodie Kehl, the executive director of the Manitoba Child Care Association. “And so for facilities to contemplate opening their hours now in the evening or on weekends is going to be a challenge for them.”

According to a survey by Statistics Canada in 2022, almost 90 per cent of childcare centres reported having difficulties filling vacant positions, with one-in-three centres looking to find someone with Early Childhood Education credentials or training.

As the federal government works with provincial and territorial governments to rollout $10-a-day childcare across the country, demand for spaces is growing.

Advocates say more work needs to be done to ensure staff will be available to meet the increased demand for childcare services.

“The main reason we’re seeing a shortage of easy and particularly qualified early childhood educators, educators with diplomas is that the wages are extremely low,” said Morna Ballantyne, the executive director of Child Care Now. “There are very few employee benefits provided for those who work in the early learning and childcare sector, and the working conditions are very difficult.

“Across the country, there’s a great shortage of spaces.”