Commercial Child Care: From Threat to Reality

Letter to Premier Clark advocating for the end of public funding to for-profit commercial child care, October 2015.

Reply from Minister Cadieux regarding the public funding of for-profit commercial child care, December 2015.

Children Ahead of Profit
Our solution to BC’s child care crisis does not include the expansion of commercial child care chains.
October 25, 2012 Commercial Child Care in Canada: Can Child Care Thrive in a Speculative Investment Environment?
Media Release
Backgrounder

Letter to the Premier re: providing public relations opportunity for a commercial child care chain in Kelowna
August 2012
Response from Premier Clark

Proposed moratorium on new approvals of Child Care Operating Funds (CCOF) for commercial child care chains
Backgrounder
Letter to MCFD
Media Release
Letter from Minister McNeil
May 2012

ALERT! Beware – big box commercial child care on the prowl in BC
May 2011

Checklist for parents considering commercial child care
June 2011

» more information and background on the BC Child Care – Not For Sale campaign

Letter to a parent from MCFD Minister Mary McNeil re: increase in fees at Kids & Company
April 2012

CCCABC Media Release: 24% hike on already high child care fees
Kids & Company co-founder in Vancouver to meet unhappy parents

April 2012

Letter to parents from Victoria Sopik, CEO of Kids and Company, re: fee increase
March 2012

Differences Between Community Owned and Privately Owned Early Childhood Education and Care Centres: A Review of Evidence
New Zealand Council for Educational Research
This paper reviews research evidence about differences between privately owned and community owned early childhood education provision in aspects related to quality education for children.

Recent expansion of corporate child care in Canada
Childcare Resource and Research Unit, Issues file

First Call letter to MCFD Minister McNeil on Commercial Child Care
November 2011

Related articles

2014 Articles

Ontario teachers shouldn’t invest in for-profit child care
Charles Pascal, Toronto Star, April 6, 2014

The shaky business of childcare and past lessons
Lisa Bryant, Sydney Morning Herald, March 13, 2014

Childcare operators being enticed away from outer growth areas
The Age, March 7, 2014

2013 Articles

The debate over for-profit child care heats up
John Geddes, MACLEANS.ca, February 7, 2013

2012 Articles

Willowbrae aims to be McDonald’s of daycare
The [Nova Scotia] Chronicle Herald, November 18, 2012

If they won’t listen to the experts, maybe they’ll listen to the accountants
Commercial child care doesn’t work. Even the accountants say so.
The Independent.ca [Newfoundland and Labrador], November 6, 2012

Manitoba’s first for-profit day care opens for business
Global News, June 1, 2012

Corporate for-profit daycare comes to Winnipeg
CBC News, May 22, 2012

The real daycare challenge: making money
Globe and Mail, February 8, 2012

Company brings for-profit daycare to Toronto apartment buildings
Globe and Mail, February 5, 2012

2011 articles

Edleun Group buys 3 child care centres in Ontario for $4M; passes Alberta centre
Canadian Press, December 19, 2011

Big-box child care buys Ontario centres
Toronto Star, December 13, 2011

Big box childcare expansion no good for families or workers
The Provincial (BCGEU), Page 15, November 2011

Acquisition of Five Additional Western Canada Centres
Edleun Group, Inc., September 26, 2011

Big box childcare expansion no good for families or workers
NUPGE, August 11, 2011

Children aren’t widgets
BCGEU, August 11, 2011

BCGEU Opposes “For Profit” Daycare
CBC On the Coast, August 9, 2011

For-profit firm plans seven centres in BC: Critics charge ‘big box child care’ too risky, push for control to move to Ministry of Education
Vancouver Sun, August 8, 2011

‘Big box’ daycare setting up in Maple Ridge
Maple Ridge News, August 3, 2011

Corporate child care is not the solution for New Brunswick
Jody Dallaire, New Brunswick Times and Transcript and Straight Goods
May 26, 2011

Public Schools No Home for Big Corporate Childcare
May 10, 2011

Profit motive sits uneasily with aims of childcare
Patrick McClure, Ethics Fellow at the Centre for Social Impact, University of NSW
February 14, 2011

2010 Articles

Edleun Inc.: aggressive pursuit of profits in Canadian child care
CUPE, December 7, 2010

CUPE committee tackles growth of for-profit child care
November 25, 2010

Our Kids Are Not for Sale: The Cornell University (USA) debate over the performance and future of the Child Care Center raises questions about the relationship between corporate, for-profit child care providers and not-for-profit institutions of higher education.
Cornell Daily Sun, November 16, 2010

Edleun eager to expand childcare reach outside Alberta
Globe and Mail, September 29, 2010

Challenges of building a daycare empire
Globe and Mail, September 29, 2010

Edleun’s New Acquisitions in Alberta
Calgary Herald News Services, September 1, 2010

Edleun Group seeks to consolidate childcare: Company is buying six more centres in Alberta at a cost of $7.1 million
July 21, 2010

Hiccups in takeover of ABC childcare centres
The Australian, May 31, 2010

Child care is more than a ‘market’
The Canberra Times, April 26, 2010

Banks knew of ABC liquidity problems
THE former chairman and chief executive of ABC Learning may not have been aware of concerns about the childcare operator’s liquidity, but it appears its banks were….
Sydney Morning Herald, April 22, 2010

ABC management ignored board order on takeovers
… ABC Learning grew from about 40 centres when it listed in 2001 to almost 2300 at its peak before its collapsed….
Sydney Morning Herald, April 19, 2010

Big-box child care is setting up shop in Canada
Laurie Monsebraaten, Social Justice Reporter, Toronto Star; January 26, 2010

Analysis: Australia – Childcare reformed in wake of ABC collapse
Helen Penn, Nursery World, January 20, 2010

2009 Articles

Profit-driven child care condemned
The Courier-Mail, November 23, 2009

ABC Learning in Receivership – 1st Anniversary Today
LHMU, November 6, 2009

Union demands urgent reform of childcare
The Age, October 24, 2009

End is nigh for ABC as final sale looms
The Age, August 31, 2009

More Australian child care centres ‘may close’
Brisbane Times, July 16, 2009

A small world after all for childcare boss Eddy Groves
The Australian, June 26, 2009

Child care: where we came from and where we’re going
PODCAST: Peter Clarke talks to Deborah Brennan about child care policy and the longer term impact of the fall of ABC Learning
Inside Story; March 6, 2009

Call for childcare industry shakeup
The Australian, February 3, 2009
“The commissioners criticise the profit-based industry model that fuelled the growth of corporate childcare chains such as ABC Learning, which collapsed into receivership last year. And they note that 70 per cent of childcare centres are privately owned.”

$6000-a-day profits at ABC childcare centres before axe
The Australian, January 22, 2009

Lessons to be learnt from ABC Learning’s collapse
Sydney Morning Herald; January 2, 2009

2008 articles

Reassembling the child care business
Australia has become a case study in how not to run child-care services,
writes Deborah Brennan. How did this happen and what should we do about it?
Inside Story; November 19, 2008

The business of caring
Deborah Brennan, The AGE; November 13, 2008

ABC Learning update
Various news sources, November 2008

‘Fast Eddy’ leaves ABC Learning investors reeling
ABC News, Australia; August 27, 2008

Child care: not as easy as ABC
Deborah Brennan, The Age; February 29, 2008

Click here for articles and more information from 2007