Child Care Issues Debated at Town Hall Meeting

Most audience members supported publicly funded national plan.

A near capacity crowd attended a Town Hall meeting on May 24 on Child Care at Winnipeg's Victoria Inn.

MFL President Darlene Dziewit said, "We invited Rod Bruinooge from the Conservatives, Anita Neville from the Liberals and Judy Wasylycia-Leis from the New Democrats to outline their parties’ visions on this critical issue and to respond to questions from the audience."

The politicians staked out their ground early, with Bruinooge making it clear that the Federal government's strategy is to play to their power base and focus their policy on stay at home parents, rather than what they call "institutional" child care.

Neville defended the deals signed by the Liberals and three provinces in the dying days of the Martin government and ignored jibes that it took more than thirteen years for them to deliver even that.

Wasylycia-Leis said the only sensibile approach to child care and early childhood education is through a publicly funded, universally accessible national plan – the model promoted by most of the audience.

The Conservative plan to give parents $1200 annually per child younger than six was dismissed by one participant as "anti-family and anti-female".

People who attended the town hall meeting had an opportunity to ask questions of the politicians representing the three main political parties.

Morna Ballantyne, child care activist and parent, framed the discussion for participants and the meeting was moderated by Leslie Hughes.

The event was sponsored by the MFL, the Manitoba Government and General Employees Union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Child Care Coalition of Manitoba, the Manitoba Child Care Association and the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada.