(CLC) Women tell their MPs: Working families need child care
One out of every six Members of Parliament had a delegation of working women from their home constituency knocking on the door of their Ottawa office this week with a message to deliver.
In town for the 13th Canadian Labour Congress Womens Conference, the 350 women from across the country made their way to Parliament Hill to tell their MPs that child care and early learning are essential for womens full participation in the workforce and to ensure children from working families have access to quality care and early learning opportunities. Rural women in particular spoke of their need to access quality and affordable child care in their communities.
-Working women know what is best for their families, and this government is wrong on child care," says Barbara Byers, Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Labour Congress.
-Income supports are helpful, but their plan to provide tax credits to corporations to create child care spaces just wont work. It wont create badly-needed spaces in rural communities and it wont create badly-needed spaces in our cities for working families," she says.
Delegates to the Womens Conference, from every province and territory gathered in Ottawa for three days of meetings, workshops and political action.
-Women went and spoke to their Members of Parliament, some for the first time. When they get back home, these women are committed to keeping child care on the public agenda. This is an issue that will not go away," declared Byers.
The Canadian Labour Congress, the national voice of the labour movement, represents 3 million Canadian workers. The CLC brings together Canada's national and international unions along with the provincial and territorial federations of labour and 135 district labour councils.