Funding, frameworks for child care

The federal government's recently announced Multilateral Early Learning and Child Care Framework is, without doubt, a truly historic accomplishment for the federal Trudeau government, one that makes good on the 2015 election pledge to develop a national child care framework.

But it's likely not quite the agreement that parents and child-care experts expected, or hoped for.

Under the new federal-provincial agreement, the Liberal government has committed about $7 billion to the provinces and territories over the next decade for child-care funding, with a focus on quality, accessibility, affordability, flexibility and inclusivity --or so the political spin goes.

As we reported yesterday, Manitoba is set to receive about $45 million of that in child-care investments from Ottawa over the next three years. Provinces are not required to match this federal investment to access the cash, and are free to use the funds under their own provincial framework.

There's plenty of speculation from those in the field, as to how the Manitoba government will use the funds. Pat Wege, the executive director of the Manitoba Child Care Association, told the Sun that she expects the Pallister government will consider improving the number of new child-care spaces "because that's where the most pressure is."

"That's more than 16,000 kids on the registry waiting for child-care space, so that's a pretty significant number," she said.

Here in Westman, Wege says research conducted through the MCCA showed there are 871 kids on the waiting list, out of 16,372 across the province.

Indeed, getting your children into child care, particularly in Brandon, has been an uphill battle for many parents in this city over the last decade. And a federal shot in the arm -- while such cash will not solve all the problems facing the system -- certainly can't hurt.

Over the past decade, for example, YMCA Brandon CEO Lon Cullen says the YMCA has grown by four child-care centres just to try and meet the demand.

"I'm pleased to see that the federal government is finally investing in quality child care across the country, not just in Brandon," Cullen said. "It's important that we invest in equitable access for all, so that people who need child care have the ability to access it."

But this Trudeau Liberal-led child-care effort may fall short of the "universal" moniker that has been the hallmark of any political push for such a framework. This was the promise during the 2015 federal election on the Liberals' website:

"We will develop a child care framework that meets the needs of Canadian families, wherever they live," read the Liberal platform. "We will meet with provinces, territories, and Indigenous communities to begin work on a new National Early Learning and Child Care Framework, to deliver affordable, high-quality, flexible, and fully inclusive child care for Canadian families."

But as the Toronto Star reported earlier this month, a summary of Ottawa's national framework, which was contained in a Manitoba order in council posted online on May 31, suggests that the three-year bilateral agreements will direct provinces and territories to focus on families considered "more in need," including single parents, those in low income, in under-served areas, those who are indigenous, working non-standard hours, or raising kids with disabilities.

There's little doubt that many of Manitoba's working middle-class families are included in the numbers Wege gave the Sun this week. Those who have experienced time on waiting lists or been forced to make dozens of calls to find appropriate child care -- and who do not fit the above criteria for "more in need" -- will not welcome this news.

That said, much depends on how the Pallister government rolls out its provincial framework for child-care delivery, and whether that federal stipulation holds true.