Today’s announcement of an increase to the upper limit of income to qualify for subsidy is good news for families. You can access a subsidy eligibility estimator at www.gov.mb.ca/childcare and the new thresholds will be added on February 6th. I encourage you to check as early as possible and apply quickly if you think you qualify for subsidy. Currently subsidized families don’t need to do anything as they will have their parent portion automatically updated.
We know that in order for high quality childcare to continue to be available we need to focus on wages and retention of staff, as well as training of new staff. The staffing crisis in Early Childhood Education is at an all time high. We are very fortunate to have the amazing staff we have here at our centres. Our government talks often of increasing spaces for families, however there is little mention of increasing wages to encourage staff to stay in the field. Please consider communicating with your MLA to let them know how important this issue is to you. If our spaces aren’t staffed they can’t operate. Thank-you! Because of Childcare Manitoba Works!!!