REGINA – Federal NDP leader Tom Mulcair says fewer than eight per cent of Saskatchewan families are able to find a licensed child care space.
Mulcair visited College Coop Day Care in Regina on Friday to push his plan for $15-a-day child care, which is emerging as a key plank of the NDP’s fall election platform.
The $15 for child care would match his plans to institute a federal minimum wage at that same rate.
“Our thinking is that the most you should pay for child care would be about an hour’s wage,” Mulcair said.
Mulcair referred to a similar day care program in Quebec he says has helped 70,000 women go back to work.
“When I travel the country, more and more boards of trade and chambers of commerce are showing strong interest in this proposal because they see it as a good economic proposition.”
He believes provincial and territorial governments would be on board if the federal government paid 60 per cent of the costs, which could amount to $5 billion each year.
Many Saskatchewan families have complained about the lack of child care spaces – some lined up on four-year waiting lists. Others have said child care subsidies aren’t enough to cover rates as high as $1,000 a month for a young child.
READ MORE: Sask. mom feeling child care crunch
There were no new child care spaces in Saskatchewan’s 2015 budget, but the government says another 800 spaces will be available when several new joint-use schools open in 2017.
Mulcair also answered questions about his hope to regain seats in Saskatchewan after two incumbents lost their ridings in 2004. He believes redrawn electoral boundaries for the 2015 federal election will benefit the party by reducing the number of ridings that are split between urban and rural voters.
Comments