WINNIPEG -- Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger promised more child-care spaces and lower fees Tuesday -- the latest in a series of pre-election announcements aimed at contrasting the NDP government with the Opposition Progressive Conservatives.
Selinger promised to adopt new recommendations from a government advisory panel on child care, aimed largely at subsidized fees that are based on parents' incomes.
The minimum $2-a-day fee for low-income earners would be phased out over seven years, Selinger said, and fees for other families, which currently range up to $28 a day, would be lowered so that families spend no more than 10 per cent of their income on child care.
The government would also set minimum wage scales for child care workers, double the number of positions in colleges and workplace training programs, and ensure schools offer before- and after-school care.
The annual cost has yet to be determined.
"Going forward, I expect it will be tens of millions of dollars and we have to work that out as part of the budget process," Selinger said.
The promises are part of a long-standing plan to create and additional 12,000 child care spaces across the province by 2021. The promises are also contingent on the NDP winning the provincial election April 19 -- a task opinion polls suggest will be a steep uphill battle.
Selinger said his plan, which focuses on non-profit daycare centres, is much better than that of the Tories, who have talked about working with private facilities to create more spaces at reasonable rates.
Selinger is in the midst of a series of spending promises before a 90-day pre-election blackout on government announcements kicks in next Tuesday. After that date, political parties can make announcements but the government cannot, under a provincial law aimed at levelling the campaign field.
In recent weeks, the NDP have promised more funding for public schools, more cash for post-secondary institutions, new affordable housing units and more.
The announcements come as the province's deficit continues to grow. A government report last month said the deficit is forecast this year to be $485 million -- $64 million higher than originally predicted.
Manitoba was warned about its overspending by Moody's Investors Services, a bond-rating agency that cut the province's credit rating last July. But Selinger has consistently said he plans to spend money on infrastructure and invest in front-line services in order to strengthen the economy and protect programs for families.
