While the National Day of Action has already taken place, when Jamie Schmale, MP’s office reaches out to follow up with my request to schedule a time I can meet with them, I don’t hesitate to go ahead and book a time.
This morning, I had the opportunity to sit down with Jamie Schmale, MP at his office here in Lindsay to discuss our local early learning and child care community. I shared about what a great and supportive community we are so fortunate to have locally, and I also shared that this sector is seeing a huge staffing crisis; I shared with him the information I had available through our two documents about how our local community is being impacted by this staffing crisis.
I did provide him with our two documents that were created for the National Day of Action that shared data and stories from our local community. Not only did we discuss the data that was within the one document, but also the impact it would have on the greater community if more and more families are unable to access affordable quality childcare. Jamie took the two documents to be able to read over the stories collected at another time and to have the data available should he have an opportunity in the future to use it.
As I shared with both Jamie Schmale, MP and Laurie Scott, MPP, we would love to be advocating for opportunities to expand the number of licensed childcare spaces in the City of Kawartha Lakes and County of Haliburton; however, we first need to address the staffing crisis to ensure all centres and programs locally have not only the number of educators and staff needed to meet ratio requirements, but to also ensure they have access to supply staff.
I feel that Jamie Schmale has a better understanding of some of the challenges our local community is facing as we continue to look for ways to attract and retain educators and staff. Jamie acknowledged the work being done within our early learning and child care community is not always easy and appreciates the great work happening.
I want to express my gratitude to Jamie Schmale for taking the time to meet with me this morning, for going over the data, for accepting the copies of both documents and for discussing the challenges facing our local community. We are both aware there is a need for change and much more financial support is needed to make sure families can continue to access affordable childcare in the months and years to come.
I also want to express my appreciation and gratitude for each and every one of the educators and staff working within our early learning and child care community – you are a part of making our local early learning and child care community so great! Your hard work and dedication each and every day does not go unnoticed. We will continue to unite our voices, share our stories and continue to advocate together.
Early Learning Quality Initiative 