e-317 (National child care program)

Petition to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development

• Rising costs of child care in Canada are becoming unaffordable for low income and middle class Canadians and subsidized and low fee child care will ease the burden on low income families and help lift children out of poverty;
• Universal child care can be fiscally beneficial to the economy; the program will encourage mothers/fathers to return to the labour force, or to continue their education without having to worry about the costs associated with child care;
• Savings associated from affordable child care will help increase disposable incomes for families and this will permit them to spend on other household necessities or invest in other parts of the economy;
• Public childcare would help improve accessibility for families by increasing the number of daycare spaces in Canada; and
• The Liberal government in 2005 had the framework setup for a national daycare program, but was dismantled shorty after by the Conservative government in 2006.