Call being made in N.S. to expand federal support to private daycares amid childcare crisis – Halifax [Video]

A Nova Scotia mother is calling on the federal government to expand childcare funding to include private operators.

“This is a childcare crisis,” Andrea Ferguson says of the lack of available daycare spaces in her community of East Hants.

Ferguson says there are few operators in the region other than private providers. She wants to see the $10-a-day childcare agreement between the province and federal government amended.

“All these centres that I’m calling have 200-plus kids on their waitlist and they’re telling me they’re coming in every day, and they’re turning people away,” says Ferguson.

Both her children, ages two and four, currently attend a private daycare.

She put her name on the waitlist as soon as she found out she was pregnant. But now her oldest is about to start school, which means Ferguson is searching again.

“My daycare does not offer after-school programming,” she explains. “Along with many of my friends with kids that …