The Current for Aug. 13, 2021
Today on The Current:
Several provinces have signed daycare funding deals with Ottawa, including Quebec, B.C. and Manitoba. But as a federal election looms, parents in places like Ontario and Alberta are still waiting to see if their provincial governments will do the same. Guest host Laura Lynch talks to Brampton, Ont., mother Diana Ratos, who is saving for her two-year-old daughter's daycare next year; Colleen Lussier, director of Building Blocks on Balmoral, a YWCA-run daycare centre in Winnipeg; and Susan Prentice, a professor of sociology at the University of Manitoba, where she studies childcare policy.
Plus, health experts say Canada has entered the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Globe and Mail health columnist André Picard discusses what to expect, variants of concern, and whether restrictions should be rolling back right now.
Then, the Olympic debut of skateboarding is making teenage girls into international superstars — and that popularity has made its way to Canada. Stephanie Battieste, founder of Toronto-based women's skate collective Babes Brigade, says seeing young skaters dominate in Tokyo will inspire more girls to excel in the sport.
And the women at the forefront of the climate crisis have stories to tell — so Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine Wilkinson have collected them in a new book of essays, stories and poems: All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis. They discuss what's already been lost to climate change, and what can still be saved in an interview with Matt Galloway from October.