Parents and workers in Nova Scotia have benefited tremendously from investments in early learning and child care since the introduction of the program in 2021. Nova Scotian parents are now paying half of what they were in 2021, making it easier for families to get by and provide for the needs of their kids.
While more high-quality child care spaces are still desperately needed, the pension and benefit package that your government introduced for early childhood educators is already helping to recruit and retain those doing the critical work of caring for our young children.
Working families need Nova Scotia to be a strong advocate for the continued success and expansion of the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care program. CUPE NS remains ready and willing to work with government to ensure the program lives up to its original objectives.
As Early Learning and Child Care Minister Brendan Maguire heads into meetings this week with his federal and provincial counterparts from across the country, CUPE NS’s 22,000 members are calling on the Minister and Tim Houston’s PC government to secure funding commitments that will:
- Triple provincial funding for early learning and child care to an annual investment of $200 million over the next five years to create more regulated child care spaces.
- Significantly increase wages for child care workers. The provincial wage grid should be bargained with workers and their unions, not unilaterally imposed.
- Reduce fees to $10 a day across the province.
- Maintain restrictions on for-profit expansion and continue to incentivize for-profit operators to become non-profits.
- Allow the provincial government first right of refusal before the selling of any for-profit child care centre.
- Make further use of public assets like schools and universities to house new child care services.
Alan Linkletter
President
CUPE Nova Scotia
:so/cope491