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A woman who runs a Saskatchewan child care centre says she's a living example of what's wrong with Canada's child care system &em; she can't afford to send her own three children to where she works.
Instead, said Jennifer Kolb, director of a licenced child care facility in Moose Jaw, her children go to an unlicenced provider.
The problem, Kolb said, is that the system doesn't provide sufficient subsidies to middle-wage earners like herself.
Kolb was one of several parents and child care providers sharing their concerns Thursday at a meeting in Regina organized by federal NDP social policy critic Tony Martin.
Martin has been touring the provinces to find out what's wrong with child care.
The federal government has promised $5 billion over five years to improve child care across the country, but some people in Saskatchewan say that's not enough and that new ideas are needed to fix the system.
According to Sue Delanoy of the Child Care Advocacy Assocation of Canada, most families in Saskatchewan can't afford quality care and if they can, there are not enough spaces.
She said there are 168,000 children under 12 and 110,000 mothers working.
Martin plans to deliver that message to Ottawa before a meeting of social services ministers in the new year.
- reprinted from CBC news