NDP say Liberal’s childcare announcement comes decades too late

OTTAWA – Yesterday’s budget unveiled a long promised national childcare program to help women rejoin the workforce in the pandemic recovery. New Democrats, along with activists, child care professionals, trade unionists and feminists, have fought for affordable, high quality child care in Canada for years.

“This announcement has been a very long time coming. The Liberals have promised a national childcare program for twenty-eight years,” said the NDP Critic for Families, Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre). “Had they kept their promise, women wouldn’t have been impacted so strongly by this pandemic. New Democrats will fight alongside child care professionals, unions and activists to make sure they keep their promise this time and that this new national program is high-quality, publicly funded and publicly managed.”

Generations of parents and children needing child care are now more desperate for accessible child care because of the pandemic. This past summer, when the Liberals had the opportunity to invest in child care with their transfer to provinces, they refused to do what was needed. They have let parents, in particular mothers, suffer for longer than they should have.

“Women across this country have been unfairly impacted by this pandemic for over a year - the lack of high quality and affordable child care in this country has been an issue for decades,” said the NDP Critic for Women and Gender Equality, Lindsay Mathyssen (London-Fanshawe). “I am relieved that our calls for a national child care system have finally been listened to by the Liberal government after years of fighting for it. Let’s hope the Liberals keep their promise this time around.”

Canadians should not have to keep waiting for the Liberals to get the help they need. New Democrats know there’s more to do and we’ll keep fighting to make sure more people get help faster.