FAST FACTS - Childcare Progress At Risk in Manitoba: Provincial and Federal Action Needed

With the federal govern- 2005-06 childcare budget came from federal dollars, ment, the province co-sponsored the Third National a sign of how important Ottawa’s decisions are to Childcare Conference, held in Winnipeg in 2004. [...] Manitoba was the first province to sign a bilateral agreement, and the first province to specify an action Manitoba has made significant improvements in plan for how the new funds will be spent. [...] The provincial government should publicly promise to However, for all the recent progress and ambitious maintain all the commitments made in the Five Year plans, childcare services are still expensive and Plan and its successor Action Plan. [...] The pay of most should be asking how our own government, as well as early childhood educators is still too low, and the field the federal government, is going to handle the needs to attract, train and retain significant numbers of childcare file. [...] The prov- Decades of Policy and Advocacy in Canada (2001), CCPA ince signed an agreement in good faith with the gov- Research Associate, and a member of the Child Care ernment of Canada, not, as some have asserted, with Coalition of Manitoba.