For parents stuck on wait-lists, $10-a-day child care sounds like 'false advertising'

For all the sacrifices she and her family makes — scaling back work hours, looking for houses with in-law suites — Victoria Holmes says she's lucky.

After all, she and her partner have parents who can come into Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove and look after their daughter two days a week.

That allows her and her partner to both work part-time hours, at least. And it keeps her daughter, Franzi, safe with people she knows and trusts.

But there's no question: $10-a-day child care would change just about everything.

The ability to go back to work full time, with full-time salary, and savings of hundreds of dollars a week compared with the alternatives. It all adds up — fast.

"That's for emergencies, you know, holidays, renos, whatever. And we don't have that opportunity to save," she said.

"It's like a carrot on a string. We just can't get there … and I feel worse for families who are single, or on one income."

Holmes has been waiting for two years — ever since her Franzi was born — to get a spot in a regulated child-care centre.

She's on more than 30 wait-lists.

"We're told it's probably going to be another two years, so she'll be almost four," she said. "We're hoping that's not true, but every time we call, she hasn't moved anywhere on the lists."

She said she regrets not signing up for child care while she was pregnant but she didn't even know that was an option.

Holmes and her partner have made an arrangement for the coming summer to get some private part-time care for their daughter to replace the days their parents are watching her.

It will add up to $800 a month. And it still won't let her go back to work full time. She wants to, and she thinks it's best for her community if she does as well.

"I mean, I'm in a big role. I was the breadwinner of our family and that's taken a back seat. Luckily, my husband stepped into that role. Not everyone gets that option," she said. "And for me, like I'm in health care. So that's one spot where someone's not working. And our health-care crisis is also just as big as the child-care crisis, if not worse."

Last week, in the provincial budget speech, Finance Minster Siobhan Coady boasted about the province's implementation of $10-a-day child care. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did the same on March 15 during his visit to Newfoundland and Labrador.

"It's just unrealistic," Holmes said. "And to be honest, it's kind of false advertising."

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