After the province announced they were investing $22 million into 1, 400 child care spaces and providing more options to families, Thompson’s MLA criticised them for not using the funds for public childcare spaces.

In a press release issued Aug. 26, the government said the funding was comprised of new and re-allocated money, with $8.5 million going towards new programs to create more childcare services.

Of that, $1.5 million will go towards home-based child care providers, while $2 million is for providers to develop satellite locations for physical distancing.

In a statement, Danielle Adams says the move is  “just another step towards privatization”, and that less than one per cent of the previous announcement of $18 million for child care funding back in March was spent according to documents the NDP obtained through the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

She goes on to state that there are more children on waitlists than ever before, and that the government should treat childcare as an essential service by investing in public, non-profit childcare spaces.