Sask. Party botching childcare rollout, kicking kids off the rolls

CCPA says Saskatchewan has worst childcare coverage in Canada

REGINA - Today, Official Opposition Leader Carla Beck and Childcare and Early Learning Critic Meara Conway responded to the latest report of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the testimony of childcare providers highlighting the Sask. Party government’s failure to deliver on ten-dollar-a-day childcare.

“Only Scott Moe could botch an idea as good as ten-dollar-a-day childcare,” said Beck. “Saskatchewan has become a childcare desert, and access to affordable childcare spaces is worse here than anywhere else in the country. Now we’re learning that the Sask. Party government is forcing providers to kick kids attending part-time off the rolls. It’s completely unfair and defies common sense.”

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives reports that 85,500 or 92% of young Saskatchewan children live in communities with inadequate access to childcare. The second-worst province is Newfoundland at 79%. 51 Canadian cities were included in the rankings. Regina was ranked 49th and Saskatoon was ranked last place.

The Official Opposition was today joined at the Legislature by Nichole Kessel, the director of Wiggles and Giggles Childcare Centre in Whitewood. Minister Duncan previously met with Kessel in March and told her that part-time kids would not be denied coverage until June. However, Ministry officials later informed her that part-time kids were to lose funding in March. Kessel has since had to inform five families that they’ve lost their access to childcare.

“Frankly, this is a government that struggles with the truth,” said Conway. “Imagine getting a meeting and assurances from a Minister, only to return home to have the Minister’s staff call you to inform you that everything the Minister said was dead wrong. This government is botching the ten-dollar-a-day childcare rollout and forcing our childcare providers to take the fall. They need to engage the sector and get to work addressing the lack of accessible childcare spaces across the province.”

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