The Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC wants to thank our members and supporters for all your work to ensure that Canada’s children and families have the child care they need and deserve.

Over twenty years of community-based advocacy – culminating in the recent Building Blocks campaign – has made a difference. Parents, providers and our social justice partners have moved child care from the margins to the mainstream.

Our voices were loud and strong at the federal/provincial/territorial child care meetings on February 11 in Vancouver. Our advice that an agreement to build a national child care program must be based on adequate public funding, legislation with standards and principles, concrete accountability measures and non-profit expansion of services, shaped the debate like never before.

While it’s very disappointing that the politicians didn’t reach such an agreement, let’s remember that a good child care program is more important than a ‘quick but flawed deal’.

The federal/provincial/territorial ministers will meet again after the federal budget is tabled on February 23. If they use this time to get the building blocks right, we will yet have reason to celebrate. But, children and families can’t wait much longer.

The Coalition, along with advocates from across the country, is still calling on the federal government to take a leadership role. We remind the Prime Minister and Minister Dryden that Canadians have a right to see their tax dollars spent wisely. If this means starting with only those provinces and territories that are prepared to table concrete action plans outlining how they will use federal funds to build quality, universal, accessible, developmental and inclusive child care systems – then so be it.

Regrettably, there is no evidence that the BC government has such a child care plan.

In spite of having received close to $250 million federal dollars in the last 4 years for early childhood including child care, the BC government spent their first 3 years in office cutting the child care budget. Now, as a provincial election nears, they are spending again. Yet, their decision to put more money into unregulated care and into one-time only initiatives that do little to promote quality or stability flies in the face of credible research.

May 17, 2005 is the date for the next provincial election. This is where our energies will now go. We will be calling on the provincial government and all those seeking our votes to table clearly articulated and accountable plans for building a long-overdue child care system in BC – a system based on quality, universality, accessibility, developmental programming and inclusion.

Please join us at our AGM on Thursday March 3, 7:00 pm, Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House, 2131 Renfrew, Vancouver. Learn about the Coalition’s work and hear our Keynote Speaker, Nancy Neamtan, share lessons from Quebec about building a child care system that empowers parents and communities.