Province pledges help for families

The Provincial government says it’s taking the first step in improving Manitoba’s child-care system by funding 15 new projects and reducing red tape in the licensing process for people who want to open their own daycare spaces.
Families Minister Scott Fielding made the announcement at Les Heures Claires Inc. this morning.

“We took two important first steps today,” said Fielding. “There are 739 new child-care spaces that will be opened up in the city of Winnipeg and across the province.”

The Province pledged $6,181,500 for the projects, 10 of which are in the city of Winnipeg and five of which are in other communities such as Morden, La Salle, Niverville, Thompson and Anola.

Fielding says the projects are in different stages of development. Some have the buildings they need to house a daycare and just need funding for programs. Other projects still need to build the infrastructure necessary to house a daycare facility.

“There are 15 of them so they’re in different stages of development,” said Fielding. “The government is committed to these projects and we think it’s an important first step.”

The province also wants to make it easier for people to acquire licences to open child care facilities and make information on how to go through that process more readily accessible and easier to understand.

Pat Wege, the Executive Director of the Manitoba Child Care Association says this is a positive first step in improving the child-care system in Manitoba.

“There’s a little over 14,000 names on the child-care wait list and 2500 have been added in the last year alone,” said Wege. “An announcement about new spaces as well as a long-term plan coming from this government is very welcome.”

Wege said in addition to the opening new spaces, the steps the government is taking to reduce red tape in the licensing process is important in improving Manitoba’s overall child-care system.

“Sometimes it’s paperwork, sometimes it’s having access to licencing coordinators who are busy or not knowing that to do or where to go,” said Wege. “In the last two months I’ve gotten calls from groups who want to open something but don’t know what to do or where to go.”