Child care in Manitoba may be getting more affordable, but finding a spot has become more difficult. Winnipeg parent Andrew Dick considers himself one of the lucky ones. His one-year-old son Edward was able to get a home daycare spot for this October. “That only came from kind of inside information and a referral from a friend, otherwise, he’s been on dozens of waitlists for many months without any sort of lead,” Dick said. It was a similar situation for Rhea Rocque. “For my firstborn, I put her on the list when I was pregnant and I got calls when she was three,” she said. “Obviously, the traditional method of just putting yourself on the list doesn’t really work.” Stories like theirs are far from unique, according to a recent online survey of nearly 1,900 parents, conducted by Probe Research and the Manitoba Child Care Association (MCCA). It found parents spent an average of 17 months on a waitlist for child care, while 52 per cent reported having to delay their return to work due to trouble finding a spot. “That’s a big, big issue for us here in Manitoba,” said MCCA president Cathy Gardiner. “We need to provide more opportunities and more places for families to have access.” She said at the Charleswood daycare she operates, there are about 500 parents on a wait list. “That’s pretty universal across the city,” she said. According to the survey, about 70 per cent of the parents did say they were able to get a space for their child by the time it was needed. Actually finding the space was a struggle. The survey said just 13 per cent of the parents surveyed agreed it was easy to find a spot, while 77 per cent of parents disagreed. Gardiner said Manitoba’s $10-a-day child care has made spots more affordable, but it’s also made them harder to find. “It has caused a real increase in demand,” said Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Tracy Schmidt. Schmidt said the province is working to bring more spaces online—opening three new schools this month, each with child care spots. “We have added more than 300 childcare spaces this fall alone,” she said, adding plans are in the works to add more spots into hospitals and health centres as well. When it comes to staffing, she pointed to the province’s earlier announcement, boosting frontline workers’ pay by up to $5 an hour. Still, Schmidt said she understands the struggle, as a mother who has gone through it herself. Her advice to parents: “Hang in there. Our government values child care. We value the labour market here in Manitoba, and we are making the critical investments that we need to make sure that every family in Manitoba can access the affordable, high-quality childcare that they deserve.” But Dick has some different advice for fellow parents searching for daycare. “As soon as a pregnant lady pees on the stick, you should be putting your name on child care waitlist,” he said. “As soon as you get that wonderful news that you’re expecting, that’s something to really think about.”
