NB Tories blasted for daycare wait list higher than 3,000

Story by The Canadian Press  • 

New Brunswick’s education minister is blaming Ottawa for the shortage of affordable daycare spaces in the province, even though his Progressive Conservative government signed a $492-million deal less than two years ago to help parents of young children.

Under fire Thursday for a wait list for daycare space that’s grown to more than 3,000 children, Education Minister Bill Hogan repeatedly said in question period that the agreement New Brunswick had forged with the Trudeau Liberal government in Ottawa favoured designated, non-profit daycares, even though the majority of daycares in the province are for-profit.

The for-profits are being left out in the cold, he argued.

“We do have targets as we move forward but the ultimate goal is to have no spaces left to give out,” the minister told the house. “The only way we can do that in New Brunswick is we renegotiate the deal with the federal government, with some co-operation from the Liberals in Ottawa, that they recognize our unique situation.”

He said Prince Edward Island had forged an agreement that was better, allowing daycares that make 10 per cent profit or less to be designated non-profit and become eligible for government funding. 

Hogan then called upon the Liberal opposition to reach out to “their Liberal cousins,” to get some traction.

“Please call Mr. Trudeau.”

The Opposition Liberals, who dedicated the entire portion of their questions to the daycare dilemma, hit back that it was the Tory government’s responsibility to re-negotiate with Ottawa, not an opposition party.

Liberal Leader Susan Holt demanded to know why the throne speech delivered Oct. 17 said the Tory government planned on creating 550 subsidized daycare spaces, when the wait list is closer to 3,300 or worse, given that some parents only put their children on daycare waiting lists, not the provincial government’s master list.

She cited several unnamed parents who could not return to work because they couldn’t find a daycare space for their child, including a Fredericton surgeon and an obstetrician-gynecologist who aren’t taking patients until they find a decent spot for their six-month old infant. Another employee at one of Holt's favourite businesses in Bathurst, which she represents as an MLA, has taken a six-month leave of absence because she can’t find daycare for her child, the Liberal leader claimed.

Talking to reporters afterwards, she said she didn't have permission to divulge their names.

New Brunswick was the last of the provinces to sign the five-year deal in 2021, which an independent research group, Cardus, said last week led to it having “underwhelming results” in the first year.

The agreement was supposed to reduce fees for parents by half of the 2019 average fee by the end of year one, or March 31, 2022, and to an average of $10 a day by year five.

Now halfway through the deal, the average out-of-pocket child care fee after subsidies for New Brunswick families is $12.82 a day, according to the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.

The deal was also meant to ensure more daycares would be designated with the higher standard of early childcare centres, with 3,400 full-time-equivalent new spaces created by the end of the agreement in 2027.

That would be the equivalent of 680 new spaces a year, a target New Brunswick is failing to achieve.

Hogan told reporters his government had set 550 spaces as a goal this year because it was a realistic target, given some complicating factors. Acknowledging that there was a dire need for more infant spaces, he noted that daycare centres had to get the proper designation before applying for the spots. The provincial government maintains a grid where the most needy places are prioritized according to location and whether they serve children in English or French.

“It’s not as simple as ‘we need a space, give it to me.’ They have to demonstrate they’re capable and there has to be a real need in that area and in the right language.”

As for why New Brunswick signed a deal it is less than satisfied with two years later, Hogan said he wasn’t the minister at the time, alluding to former minister Dominic Cardy, who quit cabinet last year after getting into some very public disagreements with Premier Blaine Higgs over several issues.

Hogan said at the moment, talks about changing the agreement remain at the departmental level between provincial and federal bureaucrats.

“If we don’t have any success at that level, we’ll have to move it into the political domain,” the minister said. 

He also insisted Holt could help by calling Trudeau and the federal government’s senior Liberal cabinet minister in New Brunswick, Dominic LeBlanc.

“She could certainly help move that dial so we could get more childcare spaces.”

Holt called it an abdication of responsibility.

“If they’re telling us they can’t do that and they want us to do that instead, that suggests to me they can’t do their jobs.”

She added that she didn’t “have a hotline” to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and it was up to Higgs to take action.

“I’m fairly certain the prime minister would respond to the premier of the province before me.”

Part of Holt’s frustration was the lack of answers when she asked about Carrefour Beausoleil, a francophone daycare in Miramichi with 200 children that wants to expand by 100 spaces.

She said even though the daycare has the proper designation, it’s been rejected by the department. Hogan had responded that he didn’t have any details about that particular application and couldn’t comment.

Green MLA Kevin Arseneau said every part of the province had a waitlist, including the communities of Rogersville and Richibucto in his own riding of Kent North just south of Miramichi. 

He said the Tories had no one but themselves to blame.

“They’re scapegoating and trying to blame someone else,” Arseneau said. “Go to Ottawa and negotiate the deal you signed, but while you’re negotiating don’t stop working on the problems.”

Much of the issue, he said, was driven by a lack of personnel. He said it didn’t help matters that most daycare providers make a maximum of $24 an hour.

“Daycares are telling me that they are losing a lot of employees to schools, as teacher assistants make $35 an hour or $31 if they only have a Grade 12 education,” he said, adding he thought that was a fair wage for T.A.s, but he believes daycare providers should make the same amount. “The experts tell us that the most education we can give to a child is from 0 to age 5. So we need to give that kind of prestige to the work they are doing.”

John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Daily Gleaner

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