At almost all times, child care is a hot button political issue in Saskatchewan. In recent weeks, as the measures surrounding COVID-19 have gotten more drastic, it's been thrown into the spotlight once again. 

The Saskatchewan NDP, the official opposition, has thrown some criticism at the Sask Party government's handling of childcare during the ongoing fight against the virus. NDP leader Ryan Meili, as he has on many other issues, has demanded more clarity from the province. 

"Some kids need to stay home, others are allowed to go to daycare," he said. "Some centres need to close, others don't. Very little communication from the province in terms of what the limitations are and regulations are. I've had child care centres reaching out directly to me saying, 'How do we keep our place clean? What are the ways we can protect kids?' There's not enough information being shared."

Meili added that some daycare centres fear that if they shut down when they're supposed to be staying open, it could cost them their provincial funding. Premier Scott Moe said that individual daycares can choose to shut down, however. 

"There will be certain instances where the operators of individual daycares may choose to not operate during this time," he said on a conference call. "In saying that, we have provided the opportunity for daycares to operate, albeit in a restricted fashion with the number of children that are allowed to be present in any room or in the daycare at any point in time."

The jumping-off point for this debate came from Regina, where two YMCA daycares closed down over fears one of their children had been infected with COVID-19. According to Saskatchewan's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab, daycares need to stay open for essential workers. 

"I think to some extent there is still a need for essential workers," said Dr. Shahab via the same conference call as the Premier, "to have some capacity to be able to access daycare to some extent."

Meili, however, said the cases in Regina shows whatever the systems are in place right now, they aren't working. The NDP leader in Saskatchewan felt the lack of communication might be helping the virus to spread. 

"That just puts into relief what a real concern it is," he said. "If we've got kids coming together and then going back home, the likelihood of that being a source of transmission of the virus, right now, we need a better approach."