Child care protest at Manitoba legislature

Advocates feel Manitoba’s politicians aren’t talking enough about child care in the lead-up to the provincial election.

Hundreds flocked the grounds in front of the Manitoba legislature Tuesday evening calling for improvements within the child-care sector.

“One of the greatest lessons learned over the past few years is that everyone relies on someone who relies on child care,” said Jodie Kehl, the executive director of the Manitoba Child Care Association.

“We are asking Manitobans to make child care a priority this October when we go to the polls.”

The rally focused on the waitlists parents face when trying to access child care and the lack of early childhood educators.

“If you pay a fair wage, you’ll get more into the industry,” said Nichola Pattinson, an early childhood educator for more than 38 years.

Pattinson still remembers her salary when she first started – $6.87. She says since wages haven’t kept up with the cost of living, more people don’t want to be ECEs.

“It’s frustrating as heavens, I’ll tell you that,” she told CityNews. “Trying to find someone to cover when somebody is sick, let alone when somebody needs a doctor’s appointment.”

“Manitoba’s own spending hasn’t changed from 2017 to 2022,” added Susan Prentice, a University of Manitoba sociology professor and child care researcher. “So all the new funding in Manitoba has come entirely from transfers from Ottawa.”

The Manitoba government has a goal to create 23,000 new full-time childcare spaces by March 2026.

When CityNews reached out to the Manitoba PCs for comment, the party sent a statement about having jointly invested $24 million with the federal government on ECE training.

The Manitoba government also said it is planning on spending an additional $6 million on tuition reimbursement until 2026.

“This government froze operating grant funding to child-care centres for seven years,” said Manitoba NDP MLA Adrien Sala. “And what that did is it created a huge number of challenges for child-care centres just to keep their doors open. And it created a huge number of staffing challenges because centres couldn’t afford to pay their staff fairly.”

“The PCs rushed to declare $10-a-day childcare without making sure everything is in place,” added Manitoba Liberal Party Leader Dougald Lamont. “There’s tons of people who need to be trained. We need a central place where everybody can have a central waiting list.”

If problems within Manitoba’s child-care sector aren’t addressed by any of the province’s political leaders, advocates say parents ultimately lose.

“Parents are putting together packages of arrangements that might include self-care, family care, off-shifting or very often a mother, almost always who chooses not to do full-time work,” said Prentice.