TORONTO – Liberal leader Justin Trudeau wouldn’t commit to re-introducing the party’s 2005 national daycare strategy Monday but did say his party would “start that process” of fixing childcare in Canada after the next federal election.
Trudeau lamented the fact the previous Liberal government was unable to pass its national daycare strategy when the NDP and Conservative party triggered an election in 2005.
But he said Monday his party will “start the process again” if they form the next Canadian government.
“I’m saying that we need to be able to help families find daycare spaces and that’s something the federal government needs to have leadership on,” he said.
“How to do it is what we’re going to be putting forward in the coming months.”
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He did give some vague hints at what his plan might entail, however, and said greater investment and stronger partnerships between the three levels of government was necessary.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released a study Monday indicating childcare rates in Brampton are the most disproportionate in Canada.
Other cities may have higher overall costs but the study found those who live in Brampton had the highest daycare costs in comparison to their wages.
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The most affordable city was Gatineau, Quebec. The study found province-wide caps on childcare rates kept the rate in Quebec much lower than the rest of the country.
The study analyzed median childcare rates in 22 cities across Canada for infants, toddlers and preschoolers.
Torontonians pay the most at roughly $1,676 a month, while those in St. John’s, Newfoundland paid the second highest amount of $1,394 monthly.
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