Finance committee  Yes, and I'd just like to reply to an earlier comment that perhaps a neighbour or a family member could watch the child. That's a privilege for a chosen few. There are single mothers and there are people of colour who do not have the option to have quality child care. This is a p

Finance committee  Ted, the dream of the national program is to make it accessible to large cities, medium cities and the small rural cities that you are speaking of. We envision that the home child care that's currently running will be a part of the program, so small houses with four or five child

Finance committee  Tax benefits are not child care. You can think of it this way. I receive a tax benefit from the Conservative government and I go to sign up my child for care, but there's no care. At my personal centre, the wait-list is until September. At other centres, it's for years. There a

Finance committee  Can I interject quickly? We speak about choice; however, there's currently not a choice. Even if a parent wanted their child to go to a child care centre, there are not enough ECEs and not enough spaces. Having a national plan will allow parents to choose to enrol their child in

Finance committee  Yes, the statistic is that it's around three to five years that people stay in the field, and then they leave. At the beginning of your career, in your early 20s, you have a lot of energy. You may still live at home. You may not have the fiscal responsibility of paying rent and b

Finance committee  I'm going to pass that one to my colleague Céline.

Finance committee  The workforce that makes up ECEs and child care workers is 90% female, which includes a growing number of women of colour. Historically, and currently, ECEs and child care workers are paid under a living wage. Their wages fall on a spectrum, with some just making minimum wage,

Finance committee  We'll be sharing the five minutes. My name is Kara Pihlak and I'm the executive director of Oak Park Co-operative Children's Centre in London. I'm also a member of the Licensed Child Care Network and chair of our advocacy subcommittee. I am representing LCCN today. Licensed Chi

Finance committee  The LCCN is, obviously, incredibly supportive of the recent federal budget announcement that allocated $30 billion over the next years for child care. A national child care program benefits a country's population, economy, children and overall well-being. We are especially suppor