Kincardine Council is giving its support to another municipality’s move to advocate for more support for childcare providers from the province.
The first topic of discussion at Monday’s council meeting was to give support to the Municipality of East Ferris, which is in Northumberland County.
East Ferris is writing to the province for support with getting accelerated Early Childhood Education Programs, and increasing the minimum wage and benefits for RECEs in licensed childcare centres.
Kincardine councillor Beth Blackwell says that the need for childcare in the municipality came up a number of times during her election campaign.
“This is something I’d like our council to support and something I’d really like to be on Bruce County’s radar,” she said during Monday’s meeting, adding, “There’s a real staffing crisis in the childcare sector in Ontario. Waitlists in our area have been long, for a very long time, but it’s really getting very dire.”
Council has agreed to back up East Ferris and Northumberland County in their petition to the provincial government.
The plan is that correspondence will be sent to the premier, education minister, Ontario Municipal Social Services Association, and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.