During today’s question period, I asked the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development why Nova Scotians still don’t have access to $10/day child care like the Houston government promised. My question went unanswered by the Minister, who chose not to explain why child care is still out of reach for so many of our province’s families.
You can view the recording below:
Keep reading to see the transcript of my interaction with the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.
PAUL WOZNEY « » : Speaker, families in Halifax are paying some of the highest child care fees in the country – over $22 per day for a preschooler – and that is more than double what parents pay in comparable cities like Winnipeg, Charlottetown, and St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.
My question to the minister is: Why are parents in Halifax paying hundreds of dollars more each month than parents in comparable cities?
BRENDAN MAGUIRE « » : Speaker, we are looking out for Nova Scotian families. We just re-signed the federal deal with the federal government, obviously, and we have reduced child care fees across the province by 50 percent.
PAUL WOZNEY « » : Speaker, and yet years after this deal was struck and has since been renewed, this government continues to fail in delivering child care that families can actually afford. Even though they promised $10-a-day child care and signed that agreement, parents in Halifax are paying more than twice that.
Why isn’t this government taking urgent action to bring down child care fees and make life affordable for Nova Scotians?
BRENDAN MAGUIRE « » : I am not a math teacher, but 7,363 spaces is not a failure. Speaker, 2,398 child care centres – not a failure; 1,924 family homes; 3,041 before- and after-school spaces – that’s not a failure. He may call that a failure, but the Nova Scotians who use those programs do not.
