With the waiting list in the thousands, child care spaces are at a premium in Manitoba. Soon, the list will get a little shorter. The province will open up 64 new spaces in River Heights.
It's expanding the current daycare in Harrow School by up to 6,000-square feet.
That will allow it to add up to 16 infants and another 48 pre-school children on top of the existing 46 spots, for a total of 110 spaces.
"There's more than 10,000 kids on the online registry that are waiting for space. So, it's good news when the province makes an announcement they have another program in the works,” said Pat Wege from the Manitoba Child Care Association.
Daycares aren't the only one's needing space. Some schools are already overcrowded, although that isn't a problem at Harrow School yet.
"We do have a little leeway in that area right now. But with the new daycare spaces coming and a new development across Taylor also coming, that may be an issue in the future,” said Leslie MacGillivray, Harrow School principal.
The River East Transcona School Division identified this as an issue as well.
In March of 2013, it submitted a resolution to the Manitoba School Boards Association annual convention where it asked for the right to recapture daycare and nursery school space for students.
"We have no intentions of asking them to leave unless that is an absolute last resort," said Bob Fraser, board chair for the division, in March 2013.
The province said they've received complaints about a lack of clarity on how school divisions should handle conflict between daycares and schools. The Selinger government is introducing new legislation. It will allow daycares to be moved around school grounds but not shut down unilaterally.
"At the end of the day, the minister will have the final say on whether or not that daycare would be moving. We want to make sure we can protect those spaces," said Peter Bjornson, Manitoba education minister.
