FEDERAL ELECTION 2021—Canada’s Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) Workforce
#childcarethetimeisNOW
What do the each of the federal party’s child care platforms say about your profession?
This 2021 election is important for child care as it is a central piece in party platforms. Each party platform offers a plan promising to make child care affordable for families to enable them to work and get our economy back on its feet.
But, what do they have to say about the importance about the ELCC workforce and the value of your profession?
Conservative Party Platform
There is no reference to the ELCC workforce in the CPC platform.
The Liberal platform is a continuation of the Canada-wide system building announced in the April 19, 2021 federal budget and as evidenced in the 8 ELCC provincial/territorial agreements signed to date. From the platform:
“Ensuring that early childhood educators–over 95 per cent of whom are women – benefit from greater opportunities for professional development and from the development of tools like wage grids to better value their work”
The NDP platform supports a system building approach to ELCC and more specifically on the workforce says the following:
“Every parent across Canada should be able to find affordable child care you need, when you need it, with a licensed provider making a fair wage. We’ll work with other levels of government, Indigenous communities, families and child care workers to ensure that care is inclusive and responsive to the needs of all Canadian children.”
The status quo is not working. Issues surrounding the importance of along with the recruitment and retention of the ELCC workforce in Canada are longstanding. From one-time grants that support wages to off and on support for professional development, it is a Canada-wide issue that impacts on the quality of services for children and the careers of ECEs and providers. Child care solutions do not happen by chance, they happen by design. A core element of supporting children, families and planning for the future of child care services is to ensure that the ELCC workforce is central to it all. Wage grids, benefits, professional development and education pathways and career support are the starting points for solving the issues. Anything less perpetuates the status quo.
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