The Canada Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) program requires change to stabilize the system for Parents, Children and Child Care facilities.

WE THE PARENTS MUST FIGHT FOR CHANGE

Please take 5 minutes to read and sign this petition.

To : The Federal Government of Canada along with each Provincial government and in association to each Educational Region and municipality who manages the distribution of funds for the CWELCC program.

Please consider the following:

 

1- This program because of the set limit amount of funding has in turn slowed the progress of opening new Child Care centres.  This subsidy system has broken an already struggling child care system.

Current funding levels are maxed out, with new children enrolling daily and no places for them to register.  Parents are being forced to quit work, work opposite shifts or face financial ruin.  Daycare Wait lists are ballooning with no sign of relief.  In larger regions waitlist are over 12 months long.

Waterloo region was noted as having over 8000 children on waitlist awaiting a spot in childcare.

Additionally, centres who are willing to open new centres under the CWELCC program are being told they can not.  There is no funding for new centres and regional licenses are not being issued.

2- This subsidy program with the "opt in, opt out" on a year to year basis and centre ability to leave the program with 30 days notice to parents creates a system of extreme instability for parents, children, providers and employers.

A parent may have 2 children enrolled at a cost of 1200$/month.  And with one month's notice to leave the program their fees are now 2400$/month.  This is a level of extreme financial instability that this creates for every family.

3- Funding for Child care centres is percentage based.  Centres who charge more, get more funding.  This can allow for illegitimate cost raising to pursue additional funding and padding of profits in "for profit" centres.

Funding distribution needs to be re-evaluated.  Funding should possibly be equally distributed to centres based on number of children attending respective of regional cost averages or another regional amount. Not overall cost per child at each centre.  

4-Child Care centres should not have their fees frozen as of March 2022. 

Wages increases, employee retainment, operating costs, utilities, minimum wage increases and inflation must be able to be considered as needed to adjust operating costs.  Otherwise centres will abandon the program entirely or close.

5- This CWELCC subsidy program is creating a 2 tiered system.  

Parents are forced to choose between waiting for child care spots and not working.  Or paying substantial child care fees to centres not signed up to the subsidy program. 

This is greatly affecting the stability of family life, struggling parents, family planning and dividing the child care landscape based on wealth.  In such a cost inflating society, parents deserve equal opportunity to affordable child care.  

Funding should be provided to all daycares operating and charging costs within regional Averages for costs per child.  

6- The previous child care subsidy was income based subsidy.  The old program still exists in addition to the new CWELCC program.  There needs to be a unified system.  This is wasteful and costly and not an efficient use of tax funds.

7-All levels of government need to define a unified approach to expand the child care system.  This needs to be a coordinated effort to better society.

Creating a better, optimized and coordinated effort will better the child care program.  This in turn will stabilize the outlook on parent life for years to come.  Allowing for family planning representative of the major costs to raise a family.

8-Correcting this CWELCC program to promote the availability and oppourtunity of centres to open and operate is equally as crucial as balancing funding.  The government needs to take the necessary steps to ensure that there is the necessary Daycare Availability in place for the number of Children that are registered to attend.  

All parents should have access to childcare as needed.  The success of our country truly depends on working individuals.  It broadens our tax base, it lifts our local economies and it allows our local businesses to be successful.  If a person wants to work, there should be a means to promote that and meet the demand.

9-Balancing funding out across all centres who qualify with in regional cost averages. 

Doing this will level the playing field for costs for all parents.  This may move daycare centres to less than 50% subsidy for parents, but will allow the previous and still existent income based subsidy to provide additional compensation to lower income earners.  This will allow parents to decide where to send children for childcare based on program quality, smaller varying costs and eliminate the Feast or Famine world parents are living in right now.  Doing this would create a system of equity, rather than blind equality. 

 

DISTRIBUTION:   This petition will be submitted to Federal, Provincial and Municipal levels of government across Canada.  MPs and MPPs in each riding.  Along with the Federal Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and the Provincial Minister of Education, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and all the Provincial Premiers.