Thousands of daycares across Canada will hold rolling closures between Oct. 21 and 25 to protest the federal government’s move to universal childcare and funding changes for existing centres.
Ottawa announced in 2021 that it would introduce a federal childcare program to reduce the cost of care to $10 a day for parents. The program, dubbed the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Plan (CWELCC), is being rolled out gradually by provinces. The federal government earmarked $27 billion in funding over five years to build the program.
However, some child-care centres and associations have said the national program is removing provincial schemes that many centres have been relying on. They also say the terms imposed by the federal government to qualify for the funding are too onerous and remove flexibility….