Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada
A small fraction of the monthly child care costs of Canadian families will be covered by the Government’s payout ahead of the
Federal Election, in the form of the Universal “Child Care” Benefit (UCCB).
The cost of this cheque, plus income-splitting will cost Canadians almost $8 billion by 2017, without delivering a National Child Care program. A recent report from the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) states that more than half the money spent on the expanded UCCB will go to families without child care expenses of any kind.
Currently, only one in five children is able to access a regulated child care space in Canada. For a majority of Canadian families, child care is the second highest household expense. Combined, these obstacles disproportionately impact mothers in the workforce.
“With the cost of child care upwards of $1200 a month, parents know that their benefit cheque is a drop in the bucket.” Said Carolyn Ferns, Vote Child Care organizer, “If sending out the money months before an election is a way to buy parents to the side of the Conservatives, it is not going to work. Parents need real help in the form of affordable quality child care spaces.”
The Vote Child Care campaign is building momentum towards the federal election, calling on the next Canadian government to commit to long-term sustained federal funding and leadership on child care.
“Quality, affordable child care that all families can count on will be delivered through the ballot box, not the mailbox,” affirmed Sharon Gregson, of BC’s ’10 a day’ campaign. “It is clear that voters across the country are ready to make national child care a priority in this election.”
Vote Child Care 2015 is an initiative of the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada (CCAAC), a non-partisan, non-profit organization with representatives from across Canada, dedicated to promoting a universal, publicly-funded, inclusive, quality, non-profit child care system.
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For more information:
Carolyn Ferns, Toronto, 416-538-0628 x 4
Dominique Arbez (FR), Winnipeg, 204-237-1818, poste 739
Sharon Gregson, Vancouver, 604-505-5725