For nearly 100 years, March 8th International Women’s Day, has been an occasion for women around the world to come together, to take to the streets, to raise our voices, to remember our history and to forge our future. Here in Vancouver, Grassroots Women has carried on this tradition for the past 13 years, and invites all women, children and men to join this year’s event.
International Women’s Day March and Rally
Monday March 8th, 2010
5:00 p.m.
Location: Victory Square (E. Hastings and Cambie streets, downtown Vancouver)
Join Grassroots Women to mark this important day in the resistance of working class women around the world.
International Women’s Day 2010, forty years after the Report of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women. A generation has passed, my generation. In some ways, there has been a revolution in the status of women since that time. ….
In the end, my conclusion is that the inter-locking systems of patriarchy, colonialism and capitalism will maintain the oppression of women. There is only so far we can go without challenging all of them. That’s why I am thrilled to see the women’s movement become more global, more diverse, more radical and more integrated into other movements for social and environmental change. Even if in the short time, we are less effective in making change, in the long term the change will be deeper and broader.
Federal budget child-care tax break causes new headache for feds
By Heather Scoffield (CP)
March 9, 2010
OTTAWA — The federal budget’s key anti-poverty measure cures one headache and causes another.
Changes to the tax treatment of the $100-a-month Universal Child Care Benefit to help single-parent families “will create new inequities,” says the Caledon Institute of Social Policy, an Ottawa-based think-tank known for its work on social security.
Jobs of tomorrow, challenge for today March 8, 2010
By Karina Roman, CBC
… David Macdonald, an economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), argues an environment in which jobs are created requires investment in social programs such as education, transit, health and childcare.
“Businesses want well-trained employees. Businesses want their employees to get to work on time and not be stuck in rush hour traffic. And they want access to more employees because [those] employees can get child care.”
Macdonald also says that kind of social spending is just as good at creating jobs as is building bridges and roads.
“What’s interesting is that social infrastructure in terms of ranking on job creation, ranks at the same level as physical infrastructure. So whether you’re paying a child care worker to provide subsidized daycare for a single mother, or whether you’re paying a manufacturing person to go out and run some rail line for light transit, the same number of jobs are created.”
And Macdonald says that both social and physical infrastructure spending ranks much higher than taxes in terms of number of jobs created….
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Conservatives put oil companies before kids
by: New Democratic Party of Canada | Mar 6th, 2010
Canadaviews.ca
OTTAWA –Stephen Harper has made it clear that he plans to once again put oil companies before Canadian children, says New Democrat Children and Childcare Critic Olivia Chow (Trinity—Spadina).
“Yesterday’s budget clearly demonstrates where Stephen Harper’s priorities lie. Billions in corporate tax cuts for oil companies while childcare and childhood nutrition are ignored,” says Chow.
“With no new dollars for early childhood education or child care, this budget continues to fail our children and working parents,” says Chow. “Among OECD countries, Canada is already ranked last for its lack of investment in child care. Harper’s Conservatives are unfortunately continuing with this irresponsible policy of neglecting our children.”…
BCGEU: BC Liberal budget lacks long-term vision
Strong social services are key to economic recovery
Mar 2 ’10
BC Liberals’ proposed 2010 budget does nothing to support vital community services and lacks the kind of long-term planning that would ensure a broad-based economic rebound says B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union…
“And while the few new subsidy dollars for child care are welcome, there is simply not enough money here to improve access to quality care.”
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BC Federation of Labour: Budget ignores jobs crisis and provides no vision for a better BC
March 2, 2010
With no help for children living in poverty, reductions to student aid and continued layoffs and cutbacks in public services, Colin Hansen’s budget fails to address the critical issues facing British Columbians.
“The success of the Olympics cannot hide the fact BC is still in the grips of a deep economic recession,” says B.C. Federation of Labour President, Jim Sinclair. “BC is still losing jobs, 4,200 full-time jobs in January alone, yet there is nothing in this budget that will protect or create jobs. Worse still, budget cuts to public services and chronic underfunding will lead to even more jobs losses and delay our economic recovery.”
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BCTF: New budget delivers more uncertainty and instability for public education
March 2, 2010
BC Liberals’ latest budget will lead to more instability and uncertainty for BC schools as downloaded costs continue to outpace government funding, BCTF President Irene Lanzinger said today.
“The government wants British Columbians to believe they are protecting education, but students, parents, and teachers should brace for more cuts,” said Lanzinger. “More schools will close, there will be more overcrowded classes, and teachers will be laid off. The government continues to be in complete denial about its role in education cuts.”
The government claims that there’s enough funding to meet the needs of BC’s public education system, but the small amount of new funding is far exceeded by rising costs. The government is asking school districts to use the small funding lift to fund salary increases and full-day Kindergarten. However, there is no new funding to deal with rising transportation and heating costs. The government also refused to fund MSP and pension increases.
“The math just doesn’t add up,” said Lanzinger. “The government is playing a shell game and it is BC’s students who are going to lose.”
Lanzinger also raised serious concerns about the government’s inability to manage BC’s public education system. In September, the government threw school districts into disarray by cancelling the $110 million in Annual Facilities Grants. The government also transferred CommunityLink funding for inner-city schools to BC’s gaming grants program. That decision forced millions of dollars of cuts to arts and sports programs. Both cuts have now been partially reversed but the instability the government caused will never be reversed.
“This government has no long-term plan to improve classroom conditions for students. There’s no plan to improve class sizes or support for students with special needs, and there is no plan to prevent school closures.”
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CUPE: Liberals further the divide in B.C. with 2010 Budget
VICTORIA—With its first post-Olympics budget, the BC Liberal government is worsening economic polarization and providing little relief to rural communities suffering from the economic crisis, says the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
In spite of increased demands for child welfare services the Ministry of Children and Family Development will receive an increase of only 1.2%in 2010, with no increases in 2011 and 2012…
Evidence-based social and public policy research has a well established baseline for predicting healthy outcomes and measures of a healthy society. These include: income, unemployment/employment and food security; employment and working conditions; housing; access to health care and a social safety net; early childhood and educational opportunities and experiences; gender and equality issues and social inclusion….
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CCPA
…Funding increases in education and social services are small, barely keeping up with inflation and the increased downloaded costs. There are some additional funds for full-day kindergarten, and an additional $26 million over three years on child care subsidies for low and middle income families, but no new operating funding to enhance the accessibility of child care spaces.
OTTAWA — Although the recession may technically be over in Canada, many households sank even further into debt in 2009, creating the highest debt-to-income ratio ever seen in Canada, according to The Vanier Institute of the Family’s annual assessment on the Current State of Canadian Family Finances released Tuesday….
“The effects of this recession will test the resilience of many Canadian families. While the stock market may be up, the improvement for families will lag behind in terms of employment, increases in income, and a return of net worth,” Clarence Lochhead, the Institute’s executive director said in a statement.
The Institute’s report also indicated 59 per cent of respondents said they would be in trouble if their paycheque was delayed by even a week, even though 70 per cent of women with young children and a working spouse said they were working outside the home….
First, we have to be willing to raise taxes. If we want strong social services, if we desire that “discussion on social justice”, we must be prepared to spend money. We simply cannot have Scandinavian social services on American taxes….
The Liberals must collaborate with the NDP and establish and legislate a national child care system under legislation.
Until we put the dollars and policies in place, Canada will continue to fail its children and consequently imperil its future.
….Strengthening families is at the centre of our economic and social agenda. Government will take steps to renew and revitalize education, to assist families with children and to secure affordable health care for our grandchildren.
Education improvements will focus on the individual and unique needs of our children.
New research gives us a clear view of a way ahead that will provide for the special gifts and special needs of every child in the province.
Early childhood development creates brighter prospects for all our children.
As we help children discover their passions and interests, so we will find our future as a province.
StrongStart BC Centres will continue to support the learning needs of children and their families.
Voluntary, full time kindergarten for five year olds will begin this September.
It will be fully funded and in every school by September 2011.
New partnerships with the private sector and parents will enable the establishment of neighbourhood preschools for four year olds and three year olds within communities over the next five years.
They will provide families new voluntary options for public and private preschool across B.C.
Several other initiatives will improve services for children and families….
Government recognizes that families with children face additional costs….
There are few services that can do more to lift a child to the full opportunities of life than an unequivocally great education. That is our goal for all the children of British Columbia.
Several significant reforms will be advanced to modernize our education system for the 21st Century.
New emphasis will be placed on parental involvement and on tailoring our education system to each child’s individual needs, interests and passions.
New forms of schooling will be developed to provide greater choice and diversity, centered on students’ special interests and talents.
Smarter approaches will allow more resources to be focused on students’ learning needs while less is spent on administrative costs.
In concert with local governments, Neighbourhood Learning Centres will integrate neighborhood needs with available capital resources and under utilized spaces.
Seven day a week facilities management is fundamental to providing critical community services that meet the needs of B.C.’s families affordably….
Ongoing financial discipline is essential.
It is the responsibility of all in this house to guide our economy and our public finances back to balance.
Balancing our budget is more than a financial imperative. It is a social imperative as well…
We must curtail expectations of government and look for new ways of meeting our needs within the substantial spending increases already provided….
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Related news articles:
Government delivers throne speech VICTORIA/CKNW AM 980
Sean Leslie
2/9/2010
The Campbell government’s latest Throne Speech delivered by Lieutenant-Governor Stephen Point is promising to capitalize on BC’s Olympic momentum to create jobs and better support families with children.
But as usual, the speech is long on ideas and short on specifics.
…. On the education front, government says new forms of schooling will provide greater choice and diversity, centre on students’ special interests and talents.
The speech repeats a promise to begin all day kindergarten this fall; and new partnerships with the private sector will establish neighbourhood preschools across BC over the next five years .
There is a new emphasis to be placed on “parental involvement” in the education system.
The government is promising “innovation” in health support services, new hospitals and public-private partnerships to give patients new choices….
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Families are priority in throne speech Victoria Times Colonist
February 9, 2010
By Les Leyne
Faced with a handful of options on where to put the government’s emphasis, the B.C. Liberals have made the fairly safe choice: Kids.
There was a range of action items in .. throne speech involving First Nations, green energy and smarter government, but the Liberals hope the real crowd-pleasers will be the vaguely outlined new initiatives for families. Most of the high-impact new ideas centre around either educating children, keeping them occupied or putting a roof over their heads.
It looks like the steady drumbeat of concern about the number of children living in poverty in B.C. — the highest percentage in Canada over the past several years according to surveys — has finally focused the government’s attention.
The Liberals haven’t gone so far as to mount an official anti-poverty campaign, as many provinces have done, and as the representative for children and youth has urged them to do. Joining that crusade would involve acknowledging that the last eight years of Liberal government have left some people far behind. …
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James Slams Throne Speech By 250 News
February 09, 2010
Victoria, B.C. – The Provincial New Democrats are not happy with the Speech from the Throne.
“Today B.C. is facing significant challenges, including heavy job losses, persistent child poverty rates and an extended recession in which families are struggling to make ends meet. Not only did the Liberals fail to mention these challenges in the Throne Speech, they failed to put forward a plan to address them,” says New Democrat Leader Carole James .
James added that the Throne Speech signals B.C. is in for even deeper cuts and tough times to come.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce has adopted a resolution urging the federal government, in cooperation with provinces, territories and other stakeholders, to fund and assist in the creation of a provincially-delivered early childhood development program.
On its web site the Chamber says it’s, “the most influential business association in Canada – the national leader of public policy advocacy on national and international business issues and is focused on fostering a strong, competitive economic environment that benefits Canada and improves the standard of living of all Canadians”
When I heard that Stephen Harper was suddenly taken with a desire to promote maternal health as the key issue for the G8, I have to admit to being perplexed. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Harper talk about women’s issues. Behind the scenes his government, which of course means him, has not only cut funding to most women’s groups and the most progressive NGOs like Alternatives and Kairos but have eliminated the word “equality” from their women’s bureau. Harper is no doubt that most anti-feminist PM we have ever had….
Harper should focus on Canada if he wants to better child health: Inuit leader The Canadian Press
By Bob Weber (CP)
Jan 29, 2010
Northern leaders say Prime Minister Stephen Harper should look to the Arctic if he wants to improve the health of newborn children.
“We’re hopeful he’ll tackle this issue in his own backyard,” Pita Aatami, head of Makivik Corp. which oversees the land claim of Inuit in Quebec, said Friday.
“If you’re going to talk the talk, you might as well practise it in your own country.”…..
Championing moms and babes Globe and Mail BC edition
Letter By Nonie Lyon
Jan. 29, 2010
I can hardly wait for Parliament to reconvene to see the proposals Stephen Harper’s government will have for the women and children of Canada, as, surely, he will want to lead by example. He’ll want to tackle high infant mortality rates in our first nations communities, the plight of working mothers who can’t afford decent daycare and the lack of affordable housing for those who live below the poverty line, even though many hold jobs. It will be wonderful to have these and so many other issues that impact Canadian women and children addressed by our newly compassionate Prime Minister.
Why indeed Letter to editor by Marjaleena Repo
Globe and Mail
Saskatoon —Feb. 01, 2010
A Prime Minister whose government and party hasn’t lifted a finger to make pregnancy, birth and childrearing any easier for women in Canada – for instance, by promoting and providing midwives, easier access to abortion and affordable child care – can hardly be taken seriously when he promises to treat women elsewhere differently
Laurie Monsebraaten, Social Justice Reporter
Toronto Star
Big-box child care is setting up shop in Canada and critics worry it will undermine quality, scuttle chances for a national daycare program and thwart provincial plans for all-day kindergarten.
The new company, Edleun Inc., has “identified a large and growing supply and demand imbalance” and is looking to acquire and develop “high quality” child care and early education centres across Canada, according to documents filed with the TSX.
Edleun already owns a chain of Alberta daycares with links to the failed Australian-based ABC Learning Centres. It has merged with a Montreal capital company and plans to begin trading on the TSX Venture Exchange…..
About 80 per cent of Canadian child care is not-for-profit, with a small number of public centres mostly operated by municipalities. The remaining commercial centres are either owner-operated daycares or small private chains run as community businesses.
A large international body of research has found that for-profit daycare provides lower quality care for young children than non-profit or public programs. Non-profit and public daycare are also more accessible and affordable for parents and more accountable to taxpayers, research shows.
“Once child care becomes a big business traded on the stock exchange, there isn’t even a pretense that it’s being operated for the love of children and families,” [Martha] Friendly said. “The stock exchange isn’t about public services; it’s about profit, pure and simple.”
Edleun Inc
June 4, 2010
According to a media release, Edleun’s goal is to “become the leading educational and child care provider in Canada. The Company’s objectives include the acquisition and improvement of existing child care centres and development of new child care centres across Canada.”
….in the past year there have been some new developments in policy and practice that have put Australia back on the childcare map.
The new Labour government …has paid much more attention to childcare. And the messy collapse of the corporate giant ABC Learning, which was the biggest operator …in Australia, has led to a rethink about the role of government and of the private sector in childcare.
Australia is a federal country. There are six states, each of which has its own constitution, has its own budget, and is in control of its own domestic affairs. There are also two mainland quasi-independent territories.
In terms of childcare there has been relatively little consistency. Levels of provision, requirements for trained staff, curricula, regulation and so on were all dealt with at a state level. ….
The Rudd government has strengthened the mechanisms for sorting out policy at a national level. The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has the job of initiating, developing and monitoring the implementation of policy reforms that are of national significance.
In July 2009 COAG agreed to set up a National Early Childhood Development Strategy. The first part of the strategy, the National Quality Agenda for Early Childhood Education and Care, which applies throughout Australia, was agreed in December 2009. This is intended to create new quality standards, including higher staff-to-children ratios and better trained carers and early childhood teachers, with requirements phased in over the next decade. ….
LEARNING FRAMEWORK
COAG also agreed an early learning framework called Belonging, Being and
Becoming. This framework has five learning outcomes, illustrated by very
practical sets of examples:
– children have a strong sense of identity
– children are connected with and contribute to their world
– children have a strong sense of well-being….
This framework was the result of extensive negotiations with a very wide range of practitioners and academics,….
CORPORATE COLLAPSE
These national developments were given extra urgency by the …collapse of the corporate giant ABC Learning in November 2008, amidst accusations of poor financial management ….
ABC Learning ran over 1,000 centres in Australia, as well as having investments in a number of other countries, including the UK …The ABC share of the Australian market was so substantial that the Government could not let the centres themselves go under – too many nurseries faced closure.
It has taken the receivers over a year to sort through the business and to decide about the future of the nurseries. The government has bailed out well over A$100m to keep the nurseries open ….
Childcare workers and parents lobbied hard to have the nurseries taken under government control. A Senate committee, set up in the wake of the ABC failure, commented on ‘the deficiencies in childcare policy and regulation’ that led to the collapse. It recommended that small-scale or individual independent operators and not-for-profit and community-based organisations should provide services, rather than childcare being left entirely to the market.
As a result, the government has overhauled its regulations, but it has not changed its policy as much as many would like. Before demand-side funding (parent childcare subsidies through the tax system) was introduced, the previous system had been to give grants to community organisations providing childcare. The switch to demand-side funding had led to the growth of the private for-profit market and enabled the growth of ABC Learning. ….
Nurseries sold off
The Australian government continues to support demand-side funding, but it has intervened in the sale of the remaining ABC assets. Of the 1,000 or so ABC nurseries, about one quarter were deemed unviable by the receivers and sold off at peppercorn prices, mainly to non-profit organisations. The remaining 715 nurseries were put up for sale. ….
In the end there were only two …bidders – the private equity company ….and a charitable consortium branded as Good Start. The receivers, unsurprisingly, awarded the bid to Good Start.
The charitable consortium…. has borrowed money and tapped private philanthropists to help fund its bid. The centres will now be run as community-based, low-profit centres to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds, although they will also cater for working parents.
Investors will be paid below-market rates of return on their investments, with the rest of any profits from childcare fees ploughed back into the centres to improve the quality of service.
Can we learn any lessons from these turnabouts in Australian policy? First, in a recession, private for-profit nurseries are vulnerable. Second, corporate firms are problematic, particularly if they have taken on childcare as a speculative investment, because it takes time – and government money – to unravel their affairs if they go bankrupt. Third, even when they get into a mess, corporate firms are unlikely to be repentant. ….
Fair Trade model
One of the ideas being bandied about when I was in Australia recently was the notion of ‘Fair Trade’ nurseries.
Fair Trade goods are now a well-known idea. The Fair Trade movement favours small co-operative producers, who plough the profits back into the business in order to pay a fair wage to the workers rather than have profits extracted for shareholders or owners. …. Fair Trade is also synonymous with high quality and community involvement….
The lesson from Australia is that it has proved too risky, as well as morally repugnant, to make a profit out of children.
An Ontario education activist says the province is “redefining preschool” by implementing early childhood education research into a full-day program — a move aimed at giving young students a head start in learning life and relationship skills.
Annie Kidder, executive director of the group People for Education, said the program is an improved version of what’s already available in other parts of the country.
“The vision for Ontario is something different,” she said. “(It’s a) combination of taking everything we know about early childhood education and childcare.”
Kidder said the province has considered leading literacy research and studies into early childhood education when they formed the $1.5-billion program.
The program will give about 35,000 junior and senior kindergarten students a full day in the classroom as opposed to the part-time schedule that’s currently available for kids in that age range.
Starting in September 2010, about 580 schools will offer the full-day experience.
“Hopefully, it’s not just about leaving them in one place,” said Kidder. “Our vision is for a full-day, one-year experience for younger children that is part of a larger structure where education is one piece and childcare is another piece.”….
The classes will be run by a teacher and an early childhood education professional. Each class will have about 26 children enrolled. Parents will also have the option of enrolling their kids into extra after-school programming with an early-childhood educator for a fee.
VANCOUVER – Child care workers, parents, and activists were at the Vancouver Public Library last night to talk about how to improve child care, as part of a cross country tour organized by the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
A panel of academics, community activists and child care advocates brought facts and figures along with a lot of passion to the call for Canada’s governments to move to a publicly funded and delivered system of early childhood care and education.
The more than 70 participants were buoyed by the UVic board of governors decision earlier in the day to back away from a proposal to expand child care capacity at the university by contracting with big box corporation Kids & Co. CUPE 951 president Doug Sprenger, whose local represents UVic child care workers, gave credit to the board for listening to the opposition on campus and in the community. “The UVic board of governors made the right decision. But a shortage of quality spaces remains and we will be focusing on getting adequate public funding to expand the high quality child care programs at UVic.”
CUPE BC president Barry O’Neill, opened the forum saying “the most important thing we have to work for is our future, our children and our grandchildren.” O’Neill, who has a passion for community initiatives and economic development, said that child care is not only the right thing to do, it is a great investment.”
Adrienne Montani, provincial coordinator for First Call, painted a powerful picture of the sorry state of child poverty in B.C. She presented data from the Campaign 2000 report that was released on November 24, showing that B.C. continues its six year record of having the highest child poverty rate in Canada. Universal child care, said Montani, would make a “huge difference” in the lives of poor children.
Speaking for the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada and from her experience with the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BCSusan Harney described the situation facing B.C. children as “shameful.” She urged advocates to be forceful in putting forward a vision for a publicly funded child care system.
Keynote speaker Susan Prentice said that child care is an urgent social justice issue. “Yet it is instead becoming an area in which commercial interests are operating. Child care needs to be taken out of the buyer-beware market,” she said. Sharing some of the key findings and recommendations of About Canada: Childcare, which she co-authored with Martha Friendly, Prentice put forward strong arguments for a publicly funded and delivered system.
Prentice described Canada’s non-profit child care sector as a “popcorn model” – where child care will pop up if parents can come together and find the time and resources to try to meet their child care needs. “The patchwork result is flawed, as it relies on already-stretched parents and voluntary groups to set up and maintain non-profit centres. While these programs have been the backbone of child care, they are unable to properly plan or provide services everywhere the need exists,” said Prentice.
Prentice noted that Canada is experiencing a surge in private, for-profit child care. She referred to the recent proposal for Kids & Co. at the University of Victoria as an increasingly common example of what is happening.
“The numbers clearly show that public child care more than pays for itself through measurable social, educational, health and economic benefits to children, families and society. Delivering spaces through local public bodies like school boards or municipalities responds to community needs, is affordable and offers high quality,” said Prentice.
Jamie Kass, a member of CUPE’s child care action working group, put the evening in context – saying that there is a good deal of support for action towards public funding and delivery from child care workers, parents and unions in communities across Canada.
The evening moderator, Randi Gurholt-Seary, shared stories and kept the information-packed meeting on track. A number of questions and comments from the audience indicated interest in continuing to work towards public delivery of child care.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees has organized the tour, which brings together community activists, parents, academics, child care workers and union members, to push for action on child care.
CHILDCARE regulation should be overhauled to remove the profit-driven problems leading to the massive collapse of the ABC Learning empire, a senate committee has found.
A 12-month inquiry into child care tabled in the Senate .. recommended the formation of a new national statutory body as part of an overhaul of the multibillion-dollar industry. The report was damning of the business approach taken by ABC Learning, whose collapse last year sparked the inquiry.
“That an organization catering for up to 25 per cent of the long-day care market should fail so rapidly following its rise to market dominance says as much about the deficiencies in childcare policy and regulation as it does about highly questionable business practices of the company,” the report found.
It recommended small-scale or individual independent operators and not-for-profit and community-based organizations as the best to provide services.
Media Release: LHMU [Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union]
AAP/ninemsn
Childcare union calls on Government to make this a happy anniversary by stepping in to protect standards at ABC Learning centres
On the first anniversary of ABC Learning going into receivership LHMU, the childcare union, has called on the Federal Government to ensure the remaining centres are sold to a reputable, quality operator.
On 6 November 2008 Receivers McGrathNicol were appointed to Australia’s largest privately owned childcare operator. One year later McGrathNicol are still at the helm of ABC Learning, making this the longest running receivership in Australian corporate history.
Sue Lines, LHMU Assistant National Secretary, says “After the anxiety of the past year, the last thing workers and families need is another ABC taking over the 705 centres the Receivers are selling on behalf of ABC Learning’s creditors, the big banks.
“Recent reports of the interested potential buyers do not alleviate concerns about what lies ahead. Mission Australia is in a consortium with 5 other not-for-profit organisations… and a little-known private equity group, ArcherCapital.
“A stable, reputable and quality operator is the priority for families and workers and it must also be the priority for governments to ensure childcare in Australia is operated in the interests of families and workers.
“This sale process highlights weaknesses in Australia’s childcare licensing regime under which licences to operate childcare centres are issued by state and territory governments. There are no national standards with which potential owners must comply in order to operate a childcare centre. This isn’t good enough.
“Australia’s childcare licensing regime must be strong enough to control and protect quality. It’s not appropriate for the big banks to decide behind closed doors who will control these centres, which represent 15% of Australia’s childcare sector, merely because they are ABC Learning’s major creditors.
“The stakes are too high for the Government to sit back and let the big banks decide short and long term outcomes for families and workers. They must step in now.
“Families value the commitment of the 13,000 childcare workers who have provided professional care and education for young children at ABC Learning centres throughout the past year despite the long, stressful months of uncertainty about the future of the centres and of their jobs.
“It’s time for the Government to again do the right thing by workers and families,” says Sue Lines.
Children and Family Development Ministry budget priorities — Funding for infant development program
M. Karagianis: Well, Dorothy Gazzola, whose daughter has Down syndrome, says that the infant development coordinators — a program this government just cut — were a godsend. She said that they were integral to the development of her special needs child. Yet this government cut those coordinators, insisting that it was a cut to administration.
So my question again to the minister: shouldn’t the minister start at the top rather than going down and hurting those most vulnerable as the first line of attack?
Hon. M. Polak: The member well knows, because we’ve canvassed this before, that both the infant development program and the supported child development program continue uninterrupted, and that the administrative and coordinating functions that were represented by the provincial advisor’s office will now be provided through the ministry regional offices — again, consistent with the multi-year plan that we are still continuing with to decentralize according to what Mr. Ted Hughes recommended in his well-known report.
J. Kwan: Well, that’s not what the front-line workers say. April Kennedy at Sheway and her colleague work with young infants and pregnant women with substance misuse challenges. She and her co-worker provide developmental screenings, assessments and support to group parents. They rely heavily on the information provided to them by the advisers in the infant and Aboriginal Infant Development Program of B.C. so that the high-risk infants and their families have a better chance to succeed in life. Currently they have a caseload of 80 infants, and approximately 70 percent are identified as aboriginal.
To the minister again: is the chance to succeed for 80 high-risk children not worth $300,000?
Hon. M. Polak: I will advise the member that the infant development program maintains the same budget that it began with — $18 million this year, an all-time high — and supported child development has seen an increase in funding from $37.7 million in ’04-05 to an all-time high now of $57 million this year.
These are hugely valuable programs, but they’re part of a complex array of supports that we provide to children and families around the province. As we shift to decentralize, I want to remind the members of something that Mr. Hughes said in his report — decentralization “allows for a closer match of services and programs to the unique needs of widely dispersed…communities.” And that’s what we are going to provide….
J. Kwan: You know, from the front-line workers’ point of view, they take a different point of view than this minister. They say that training and current information on relevant trends and changes in early intervention are an essential part of providing quality services to the heavy at-risk caseload.
The infant development office has helped over 80,000 parents at the cost of $300,000. That’s $3.75 per family….
J. Kwan: Why is it that this government can find half a billion dollars for a retractable roof, and they cannot find $300,000 to support front-line workers working with high-risk infants of 18 months or younger?
Hon. M. Polak: I will repeat this for the member. There are no reductions in service in infant development programs. There are no reductions in service in supported child development programs. In fact, both programs are being funded at an all-time high….
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Thursday, November 5, 2009, Afternoon Sitting – EXCERPTS ESTIMATES: MINISTRY OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY DEVELOPMENT [DRAFT TRANSCRIPT]
M. Elmore: I’ll be asking some questions on the topic of child care. I guess my first question to the minister is: can you just outline for me the budget allocated for child care?
Hon. M. Polak: The budget for child care is about $300 million this year. That’s an increase of about $8 million.
M. Elmore: Would I be able to get a breakdown of the different components of the budget …..
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Hon. M. Polak:
… I’ll start with early childhood development, because that actually isn’t included in that $300 million. That amounts to $23 million. In terms of child care subsidy, which is a part of the $300 million, that’s $148 million. The child care operating funding is $65 million, and the supported child development funding is $57 million.
M. Elmore: Thank you, Minister.
…. I understand we are still receiving funds from the federal government for child care. It should be $33 million that’s been promised for the last couple of years, and continuing as well. Does the minister have a breakdown for those funds as well?
Hon. M. Polak: For ’09-10 we received from the federal government… $33.61 million. That breaks down as follows. Some $14.35 million goes to subsidy, $9.16 million goes to the operating funding, $9.3 million goes to resource and referral, $160,000 goes to major capital, $200,000 goes to child care operations and administration, and $440,000 goes to supported child development.
M. Elmore: …Can you tell me…? It says here in the service plan that for 2007-08 the total number of ministry-funded licensed child care spaces was 87,538, that the actual for 2008-09 was 92,751 and that the target for 2009-2010 is 91,000.
… it appears that there’s a drop — the numbers from 2008-09 of 92,751 to a drop for the 2009-10 target of 91,000. That also carries through to ’10-11, a static target, as well as to ’11-12 for those spaces.
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Hon. M. Polak: In part, this is because it isn’t the ministry that actually creates spaces — right? It’s the sector out there that creates the spaces. When they do, we provide them funding.
We are anticipating that due to the fact that we are not providing a major capital budget for this year, we will not see an increase in spaces. We are on track to meet that 91,000-space target, and essentially, the performance measures targets are consistent with what we anticipate in terms of year-over-year growth and looking at the historical trends.
…Since ’01 the major capital funding that we’ve provided has actually enabled us to create or to assist in creating more than 6,500 spaces in that time period.
We are not at this time, given the current economic circumstance, able to provide a major capital funding program. Nevertheless, we are at a very high level in terms of the numbers when compared to past years, and we expect that to remain consistent and not see a reduction.
M. Elmore: Minister, can you tell me: what is the budget line for the minor capital grants and what percentage of the budget that makes up?
Hon. M. Polak: The amount allocated for minor capital this year is $500,000.
M. Elmore: What was the amount for minor capital grants last year, last budget?
Hon. M. Polak: It was $1.2 million.
M. Elmore: So my question is with the reduction. Maybe you can talk about the reduction in the minor capital grant program. Certainly, I’ve heard a number of concerns come forward, and a number of facilities talked to me about the difficulties that they’re facing trying to meet the needs of maintaining their facilities in terms of meeting the provincial regulations that they are required to. ….
M. Elmore: Does the minister have a percentage of the cut that that represents to the overall child care budget, just as a reference?
Hon. M. Polak: It represents approximately $700,000 less out of that $300 million budget, which is, to my mind, although I have to say it’s late in the day, and my brain is tired…. I think it’s less than half a percent.
M. Elmore: I’ve got correspondence, and I’m sure the minister and the staff have heard from a number of facilities that are experiencing hardship, certainly, in recognition that the minor capital grants are not for major renovations but just for the upkeep, for minor repairs.
I have a report from the Esprit child care centre in Gibsons. I can forward this on if you haven’t received it as well.
The Esprit child care centre in Gibsons is an on-site child care centre at Elphinstone Secondary School. The repairs that they have done there are by the school district maintenance staff. They say that they’re having a hard time making the necessary changes and minor repairs to their facility to meet the regulations. Due to the cut, they are experiencing hardship. That’s a report from that care centre in Gibsons.
I also have a submission from the Quignas day care. They talk also about the hardship of the reduction in the grant. They take a little bit more of a historical view. The coordinator there has been working in the field since 1979 and has seen that very little has improved.
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They characterize the cut to the minor capital grant as a money grab from the child care field, putting undue hardship on the facility trying to meet the regulations and make the necessary changes, and the reductions in the child care grant…. Actually, they would have to pass those fees on to parents, and they would be forced to offset the costs of making the necessary upgrades. That would be translated into higher parent costs.
That’s certainly the story I’ve been hearing and painting in terms of the situation of child care here in British Columbia.
Number one, it represents such a small percentage of the overall budget. Also, in context of the lack of investment in major capital, one component of a sustainable child care system is the necessity to invest in infrastructure, not only in major capital funding but in terms of the minor capital, in making those necessary upgrades. It’s an important aspect of our child care system, and it’s to meet the provincial regulations that they’re required to do that.
Child care facilities are reporting that it’s putting a hardship on them. They have to make these changes, these upgrades, and it’s resulting in having to transfer those costs onto parents. They’re having to raise their fees, and that’s a concern from child care providers.
Since I’ve been talking to and meeting with a number of child care providers, I’ve been struck by their concern in terms of wanting to offer quality service to kids and also for parents and families. That also is quite touching in terms of their commitment to the field. They take it very seriously — providing quality child care. ….
M. Elmore: …. The reason is… I have a letter from the Windermere Valley Child Care Society. They’re running a non-profit child care centre, and they’re finding that the financial issues they’re being faced with…. They’re running a deficit over the years, so it’s accumulating, and it’s insufficient to cover their costs. From this letter, the parents are receiving the brunt of the shortfall. Some families can handle it, but some can’t.
I would just like to be able to report back to the letters that have come in to me, in terms of some relief for these facilities that are providing child care and their efforts to meet the provincial regulations.
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Hon. M. Polak: The child care operating fund is provided to agencies at a rate of about 12 to 14 percent of what it’s costing to them to run their facility. You can add to that the subsidy that’s provided for low-income families, which is up to the full amount of what they are charging.
The money that comes through CCOF is no-strings-attached money. If they chose to, they could certainly make an internal decision to have moneys like that go to minor capital.
These are private agencies, and it is up to them to manage their budget appropriately and determine whether or not they have other places they could look to within their budget, whether those are administrative efficiencies or other actions they may decide not to take this year. Again, that’s over to them as a private agency.
Our decision was based on difficult economic times and on our desire to protect what we felt was the highest priority, and that was the operating fund and also the subsidy. Certainly, we would love to be able to not have to make any of those decisions. Nevertheless, we were able to see our spending on child care increase this year by $8 million in the midst of some very difficult economic times.
Unfortunately, we’re not able to maintain funding for everything that we do, but we felt that the priority should be on maintaining the CCOF and the subsidy for low- and moderate-income families.
M. Elmore: I’d just like to have on record that a number of child care providers have expressed that it will have quite an impact on them and their ability to make the necessary renovations and improvements to meet the regulations, and that they’ll have to pass those costs on to the families.
I was wondering if I could just go back. You gave me the current number for this budget — $300 million for child care. Do you also have the numbers for ’10-11 and ’11-12 projected for the child care? ….
M. Elmore: It’s a math question again. Just in terms of the overall MCFD budget, the investment of $300 million in child care — what does that represent in percent of that budget and in percent of the overall budget just roughly?
Hon. M. Polak: It’s about 21 percent of our overall budget.
M. Elmore: Could the minister explain to me the trend in the subsidy allocation? I notice that it’s about half of the current budget.
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Hon. M. Polak: Last year we spent about $144 million, and this year we’ll spend $148.2 million.
M. Elmore: The subsidies — I recognize that they comprise nearly half of the overall child care budget. I have a submission from the B.C. Government and Service Employees Union in terms of subsidies — that subsidies are simply giving money to individuals. It’s not a substitute for quality child care, and just pouring money into child care subsidies doesn’t address the need for more spaces in the province. There is a need for spaces, and also the issue of affordability.
If I can just hear the minister’s response on that.
Hon. M. Polak: In fact, the ability of this province…. I shouldn’t say the ability. The decision of this province to provide for subsidy as a significant portion of this funding is what provides parents with choices that they don’t have in other places. Our province is the only province that allows parents to be subsidized for in-home day care, which they may choose to have.
We believe that affording parents that choice is an important thing. It’s also important to note that most provinces have a hybrid model of funding, where there is some money going to subsidize and some money going to daily operating funding. ….
M. Elmore: I’ve been hearing reports about the long wait-lists that parents have in terms of trying to get their infants, toddlers or young children into day care spaces and just the lack of spaces that are available.
The question to the minister is about…. Certainly not contradicting the role that subsidies play, but in terms that subsidies don’t address the need to alleviate wait-lists and to provide spaces for much-needed child care spaces….
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Hon. M. Polak: It is unfortunately difficult to assess wait-lists coming from day care centres or child care centres, because in very many instances it is most common for parents to register in a number of different day care centres. ….For our purposes, though, we have certainly been great contributors to the creation of spaces. …
M. Elmore: The minister has raised the challenge of determining what is…. We know the current number of spaces that are provided. Certainly I hear, and child care providers tell me, that there are huge wait-lists. They characterize it as a system in crisis. There are not adequate spaces to accommodate the requests, and affordability is also a challenge.
So the question becomes: is the ministry looking at ways to actually document and quantify what the wait-list is in the community to be able to better inform plans going forward in terms of addressing the needs for child care spaces?
Hon. M. Polak: We don’t plan for where child care spaces should be or how many there should be. What we do is provide funding to those that are created. I believe the number right now is 4,800 providers throughout the province. That makes it, as you can imagine, being that they are private agencies, difficult to track exactly what is going on in each community.
Nevertheless, our role is in providing support through not only the child care operating fund but also through subsidy. It is the private sector’s role to create those spaces, and we respond with funding support when they do. ….
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M. Elmore: Besides these facilities, I’ve also had meetings up at UBC and at SFU with their child care facilities there. They’ve reported to me that their wait-list is also in excess of the hundreds and also many years’ wait-list.
The problem — it’s a little bit of a different constituency in terms of the needs of students and families pursuing their graduate and post-doc and post-graduate work at these institutions — is that besides the faculty and staff, the students also need that support. If they’re young parents and have small kids, they need to access child care to have that support in terms of pursuing their educational programs.
I was just wondering if you’re aware of the backlog and the wait-lists at UBC and SFU in terms of the requests for spaces and the needs for that. ….
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M. Elmore: I also met with the UBC alma mater. Did they raise to you the wait-lists and the need for spaces and the wait times? Did they give you an indication of that?
Hon. M. Polak: Yes, they did. ….Again, we understand they’re experiencing issues around demand — high demand for their programs. But that is an opportunity, hopefully, for someone to see the need and then decide that they wish to invest in creating child care spaces, which we then would be funding through our child care operating fund, should they qualify, which we would expect they would.
M. Elmore: Certainly, responses for the need, the pressing need, for more spaces out at UBC and also a number of other post-secondary institutions.
The need there, as well as the need for more spaces — which I’ve been hearing in terms of the wait-lists — is support for young families, particularly young mothers. It’s not as much as in past years. You know, there is shared parenting of parents — mothers and fathers — but certainly it often falls to the mother.
One of the aspects, as well, that I heard is that the lack of child care spaces, particularly at UBC and SFU, is resulting in a barrier for young women who are seeking to complete their degrees and pursue their education, their academic careers. It’s a barrier in terms of pursuing their academic work. So that’s one of the impacts of lack of spaces at post-secondary institutions.
Also, in the community, it’s young families and often the working mothers who face the greatest challenge of needing to find reliable child care for their kids when they’re trying to work and also support their family. So if the minister could speak to that. …
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I’m concerned, and I think it’s really too bad that we’re not seeing the creation of more spaces this year and that it hasn’t been projected into the plan. So if the minister could speak to that.
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Hon. M. Polak: The role of the private sector is to create spaces. They do that. We are there to support them with operating funding, which provides stability to the system — maintains the existing spaces. …. Although the target for this year is 91,000 spaces, that doesn’t necessarily mean that there might not be providers who come along in the interim and build or open new spaces. If they were to do that, then we would be providing them, as well, with child care operating funding. But, again, that is not the role that the ministry plays. We do support spaces at times when we have finances to run and operate a major capital budget, and we have done that over the years to the tune of 6,500 spaces since 2001. ….
M. Elmore: I think that the dependence on the private sector can be identified as one of the problems in terms of relying solely on the private sector to create child care spaces. If you look at it in terms of quality child care assistance that is offered in other jurisdictions, other countries, market-based models have not been shown to deliver the spaces because the profit margin is small. Also, the other problem is that it tends to drive up costs — costs that comes out in terms of fees for parents. Also, it drives down wages in terms of wages to the child care providers.
[H. Bloy in the chair.]
I think that maybe exists as a philosophical difference in terms of the role of government supporting child care and, also, regarding it as an investment to create child care spaces and to identify child care as a public service that’s offered and benefits society as a whole. We reap those benefits for providing universal, affordable and accessible child care for all citizens regardless of their ability to pay and according to need.
Maybe the minister can speak to that. ….
M. Elmore: Recognizing that I’ve heard and it’s been characterized as a crisis in the child care system — the lack of spaces, the long wait-lists for parents, to get into facilities — another issue that has also been raised consistently is the issue of affordability and the rising costs of child care.
I have a letter, a submission from a family who was on a wait-list for over three years in the West End. The child care costs are continuing to rise, and it’s out of the reach of many families, even with the subsidies. They quote here the cost of child care. It’s recorded now that child care costs are the second-highest expense for a family after they’re paying for their home, shelter.
One is a lawyer, and the other works at UBC. Their fees are $1,290 a month, which works out to $23,500 gross net income. Those are the fees they are having to pay, in addition to the high wait-list. That’s the situation. It’s very grave for families and young families. I think I’d characterize them as desperate in terms of needing to find places to look after their kids while they’re going to school. There’s a need for more spaces in our system.
If I can just ask the minister to comment on what she heard in terms of affordability of child care for families here in B.C.
Hon. M. Polak: Certainly, we recognize that affordability is a challenge. ….Again, back to our priorities, they were chosen based on the recognition that affordability is a significant challenge for parents out there. ….
M. Elmore: I understand that the minister isn’t prepared to take a stand on this pressing issue that’s of concern, pretty much, to the entire child care providers and advocates and organizations in B.C.
I have another question in terms of the early childhood educators. One of the concerns, certainly, is ensuring that these professionals, who are very dedicated to their careers, are able to make a living wage in their profession. Often we see that there is downward pressure on wages in terms of trying to meet affordability for parents. I’m wondering if the minister is in support of…. There’s a campaign calling for a living wage for early childhood educators, a $20 an hour wage. I’m wondering if the minister is in support of that.
Hon. M. Polak: The role of the ministry is to provide for financial support to day care providers. We do that through the child care operating fund. It is the providers who set the wages for their employees. It is not government who has a role to play in that. ….
M. Elmore: My next question is: is the minister interested in looking at adding a wage subsidy for early childhood educators as one of the line items — besides providing the subsidy and the operating funds and the minor grants and those different lines, adding a line in terms of supporting the wage subsidy for ECEs?
Hon. M. Polak: No, we have not considered a separate wage subsidy. …
M. Elmore: So I take it, then, that there isn’t a plan. We don’t have a comprehensive plan in government to expand child care. ….
It’s striking when I meet with a number of the advocates and people very passionate about child care and the need to have a comprehensive, universal, affordable, accessible child care plan. Many of them are women. When I sit down with them, they say that this has been a fight they’ve taken on when they themselves were young mothers. They had young children, and they were trying to find child care spaces for their kids. They say they can’t imagine, you know, 30 years later that now their kids have grown up, their kids have had kids, and they’re grandparents now, and they are still fighting for a comprehensive child care system.
I think it really speaks to the need for a plan, in terms of how to systematically address the needs and concerns that I know…. Certainly, many people in this room, if you’ve raised kids, are familiar with that and have heard about the need for a comprehensive, universal child care system. There is need for a plan to address that.
M. Elmore: Just to conclude my remarks, and then I’ll pass it off. Certainly, I’ve been hearing from parents and child care providers, reporting that parent fees are going up and wait-lists are growing across the province. Also, low wages for the child care providers, the early childhood educators, are forcing them to leave the field. A child care action plan that actually looks at implementing and addressing some of these issues in a systematic way is what is needed to move the burden of child care funding from user fees to public funding; to set targets and timelines for lowering and capping parent fees; and to raise wages to a fair wage, a living wage, for early childhood educators. Also, to promote building of community-owned spaces to meet everyone’s needs.
So that’s what I’ve been hearing, and I think those are the priorities that I’m hoping to see more commitment from the government on. Thank you very much.
Early learning investment key to recovery
People for Education, Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, and Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario
QUEEN’S PARK, Oct. 27 /CNW/ – Today’s provincial government commitment to begin transforming early learning programs is a critical first step toward Ontario’s economic recovery and future prosperity, say public education and early learning advocates.
The announcement is a needed first step to implementing the transformative vision recommended last spring by the Premier’s early learning advisor Dr. Charles Pascal, which was widely applauded by parents, public educators and early learning providers.
“In these tough times it’s encouraging to see the government is sticking to a strategy that will be as good for families and children as it is for Ontario’s economic recovery,” says Annie Kidder, People for Education. “Early learning is one of the best stimulus investments a government can make to stem an economic downturn.
“Beginning the transformation of our schools into vibrant community hubs will pay off for generations to come. We must stick to the full vision laid out in the Pascal report, so that Ontario becomes a world leader in early learning innovation.”
Andrea Calver, Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, says today’s announcement represents the first new provincial investment in early learning in about two decades.
“There is still a lot of work ahead to implement the Pascal blueprint but today’s commitment is a green light to municipalities, school boards and the early learning sector to move forward on making the vision a reality,” Calver says. “It’s time to get to work.”
“We are more than ready to partner with teachers to create a team-based approach to providing Ontario’s children the best full-day early learning experience possible,” says Diane Kashin, Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario. “That’s the vision in the Pascal report and it’s one we’re committed to, because it’s best for children.”
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Ontario Federation of Labour
Oct 27, 2009
TORONTO –(Marketwire – Oct. 27, 2009) – “The implementation of full day kindergarten in Ontario schools is really welcome news,” says Wayne Samuelson, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour. “This program represents a truly important piece of the childcare puzzle.”
Today’s long awaited announcement on full day kindergarten is a major step toward the sort of seamless early learning strategy recommended by Dr. Charles Pascal in the Ontario government commissioned report With Our Best Future in Mind. The Pascal Report was widely praised by educators, parents and public policy experts for its vision using schools to create holistic, community-based early learning hubs for children from age 0-12.
“Full day learning will give four and five year old children a real leg up in early childhood development and education, which is great for the children and their families,” says Samuelson. “But this also presents new economic opportunities for many families struggling through tough times. It’s also a tremendously valuable source of direct economic stimulus to aid on the path to recovery.”
Knowing that their children will be well cared for on a full day basis will open new possibilities of full time employment and educational upgrading for many parents, especially mothers. Public policy experts and poverty reduction advocates have long recognized that investments in childcare and early learning will have a significant and long term impact in the fight against poverty.
“It’s important to remember though, that this only represents one piece of the puzzle. The government must now commit to fully implementing the rest of the recommendations in the Pascal Report. That means expanding programs to include all children in the 0-12 age range, and further investment to fully support transforming schools into vibrant hubs of their communities.”
“Especially in tough economic times, we need to recognize the difference between a real investment and a mere expenditure. Money spent on early education will result in more opportunities for children, more opportunities for parents, and more opportunity for the creation of good jobs. That’s a real investment in our future,” says Samuelson.
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Children Will Benefit From Government Decision on Early Learning
Elementary Teachers’ Federation Of Ontario
TORONTO, Oct. 27 /CNW/ – The model that the provincial government has chosen for full-day kindergarten – a teacher at the front of the classroom all day supported by an early childhood educator – is in the best interests of Ontario children, say Ontario teachers.
The government’s decision meets Ontarians’ expectations for full-day kindergarten. A recent Environics poll confirmed that parents and the public overwhelmingly favour the presence of a certified teacher in the classroom for a full day.
“We commend the government for its commitment to the welfare of young children. The decision took a lot of courage in today’s economic environment, but it will pay a lifetime of rewards, not only for children, but for our communities and the economy,” said Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario President Sam Hammond.
“Today’s announcement ensures that children and their parents will get the best educational program,” Hammond said.
“The kindergarten classroom is where children begin their journey in school. What they learn here sets the foundation for future success. Pairing a certified teacher with a trained early childhood educator will create the best learning environment for building that foundation.”
Certified teachers understand how to use play-based learning to develop children’s foundational skills and help them prepare for the more formal training that begins in grade 1. They understand the curriculum and how what happens in kindergarten is linked to learning in later primary grades. Many kindergarten teachers also have special training to help them understand how children learn and grow.
“Early childhood educators will bring a special set of skills and expertise to the kindergarten classroom. ETFO members look forward to their support to benefitting the learning of four- and five year-old children,” said Hammond.
VANCOUVER, Oct. 1 /CNW/ – Fresh on the heels of cutting funding for children with autism, the Ministry for Children and Family Development has abruptly cut off funding to the Infant Development Program’s provincial office.
“Why are the BC Liberals picking on kids with disabilities?” asked Reid Johnson, President of the Health Sciences Association of BC.
“First, the ministry announced it was cutting funding for autistic children by $3 million. Obviously, that wasn’t enough of a reduction in service to children with disabilities, so now they’re cutting $300,000 from a program that supports families with infants with developmental delays, leaving them on their own to figure out how to get needed services for their babies.
“Imagine for just a moment the emotional turmoil of having an infant with developmental disabilities, and not knowing where to turn to find the help your baby needs to give her a fighting chance. That’s just one service the IDP Provincial Office provides, and the Ministry for Children and Families is ripping that away from some of the most vulnerable people in our province,” Johnson said.
In addition to acting as a referral service for families, the IDP Provincial Office provides professional training and clinical support to the infant development program consultants around the province. Through the office, staff who work with families are also connected to a range of early childhood intervention information, resources, and services.
“This is a short-sighted, mean-spirited, and direct attack on families with children with disabilities,” Johnson said.
The Health Sciences Association of BC is the union that represents early childhood education specialists including infant development consultants who work with families to provide a range of services to help young children overcome developmental challenges.
For the first time in history, including during both of the World Wars, employed women in Canada now outnumber employed men, according to a CAW analysis of the annual unionization study by Statistics Canada released in time for Labour Day.
“This is an important milestone that leaves little doubt that women’s position in the labour market has dramatically changed since women first entered the workforce en masse,” said Julie White, CAW Director of Women’s Programs. “Across the country, women are making a critical contribution to the economy, their families and their communities.”
An average 7.123 million women and 6.963 million men were employed during the first half of 2009 … The larger numbers of women hold true for both the “under 25 years” and “25 years and over” age cohorts. The study does not look at labour force participation rates which would include all Canadians who are actively looking for employment.
… The Statistics Canada study also shows that the number of unionized women exceeds the number of unionized men, as has been the case since 2006.
There are comparatively more employed women in large part because so many men have lost their jobs during this economic crisis, particularly in the manufacturing and primary resource sectors. These men are now unemployed or forced into early retirement or self-employment. Without an industrial strategy for Canada, it is unclear how this employment will be recovered to any significant degree.
“This segregation of the labour force by gender has become increasingly significant with changes in the underlying structure of the Canadian economy,” said economist Marjorie Cohen.
“Since the first free-trade agreement with the US, and subsequently with NAFTA, the Canadian economy relies more heavily on exports, now at about 36% of GDP. Males dominate all of the export industries, and it these industries in the resource and manufacturing sectors that have been hardest hit by the economic crisis, resulting in a high level of male unemployment.
… The relative increase in women’s employment is also explained by gender ghettos. Women’s employment is concentrated in jobs like sales, clerical work, health care, education, hospitality and social services where much of the job growth has been happening.
“The jobs performed by women are also some of the lowest paid jobs in the labour market, often with minimal employment benefits and pensions, plagued by part-time work, erratic schedules and temporary contracts,” said White.
“If our economic recovery assumes a reliance on such jobs and if social supports like a national child care program remain a distant promise, then women’s lot cannot be said to have really improved greatly nor will it improve in the future.”
Budget ignores job losses and climbing unemployment
BC Federation of Labour
September 1, 2009
The provincial budget update released today by Finance Minister Colin Hansen ignores the hardships faced by tens of thousands of unemployed British Columbians and their families, focussing instead on minimizing the deficit and tax cuts.
“This budget is another spin doctor’s dream, until you walk out the door into the real world and realize that we have more than 150,000 people without jobs, forest communities in crisis, seniors without proper care and students without a chance to get a decent education or proper training,” says Jim Sinclair, President of the B.C. Federation of Labour.
“At a time when industrialized countries around the world are spending aggressively to protect and create jobs, the Campbell administration is preoccupied instead with minimizing the deficit which will cause even more job losses,” says Jim Sinclair.
“This budget does nothing to get people back to work. It does nothing to get people into classrooms for training or retraining. It does nothing to help British Columbians weather the economic downturn or prepare for a recovery,” Sinclair added. “In real terms, the government should be spending money to put people in school and to work. Instead of helping people and communities they are going to axe 1,500 jobs in the public sector.”
Sinclair also noted that today the minimum wage in British Columbia became the lowest in Canada.
“The people of British Columbia do not want an HST tax transfer from consumers to corporations, instead they want the HST killed and the minimum wage raised,” he said. “Shame on Gordon Campbell for telling us to tighten our belts while he has doubled his own salary and benefits.”
Although the government says it is protecting health care and education, the front line workers who deliver those services are anticipating severe cuts in both health care and education. “Every day we hear of cuts to health care and education but to listen to the Finance Minister all is well in British Columbia and there’s lots of money for services.”
“Colin Hansen was the last Finance Minister in the industrialized world to spot this economic collapse. He now wants us to believe that he’s spotted a supposed recovery,” Sinclair added. “This government doesn’t understand that a so-called ‘jobless recovery’ is not a real recovery. BC has lost full-time jobs faster than any other province. This budget does nothing to reduce those numbers, and combined with the HST will lead to even more lost jobs.”
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Working families pay more and get less from B.C. budget
BCGEU
Sep 1 ’09
Today’s provincial budget continues the pattern established by the B.C. Liberal government of shifting the tax burden onto working families and cutting core public services, says the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union.
“While other governments are introducing comprehensive stimulus packages to weather the recession, the Campbell government is increasing costs to working families and starving public services,” says BCGEU President Darryl Walker.
The recession is already taking its toll on B.C. families with the number of Employment Insurance recipients up 140% and temporary income assistance caseloads up 56.5% since last summer.
“It’s clear that the B.C. Liberal government has no credible plan to address the startling increase in poverty and the ever-expanding services deficit in this province,” says Walker. “The government is taking us down a highly irresponsible path. As public services continue to be gutted, local economies will suffer and the recession will be deeper and longer than it needs to be.”
Although the Campbell government acknowledges that B.C. has one of the leanest public services in Canada, and that there is a significant recruitment and retention problem, the government has no viable plan to rejuvenate the public service.
The budget promises a reduction of 1,500 jobs over the next three years through layoffs and attrition and re-affirms the government’s plans for a freeze on public sector wages. This continues the attack on the public service that began in 2001 when deep and broad-based cuts were made across all ministries.
“The Liberal cuts since 2001 have been particularly devastating for the ‘heartlands’ where key public services have been taken from many communities or eliminated altogether,” says Walker.
Today’s budget confirmed and deepened cuts to important environmental programs such as the Ministry of Environment’s parks, protection, and stewardship programs; Ministry of Forests & Range’s compliance and enforcement programs; and Ministry of Agriculture’s land restoration programs.
The Ministry of Transportation’s highways maintenance and commercial vehicle inspection will see cuts of $29 million this year, with more cuts scheduled for the next two years.
Other Ministries facing administrative and program cuts are Children & Families, Citizen Services, Community Development, Education, Finance, and Labour.
However, nowhere in the budget documents are the number of full-time equivalent jobs (FTEs) listed ministry-by-ministry.
“The lack of transparency in this budget is shocking,” says Walker. “Hiding these numbers makes it difficult to tell what the impact of the public service cuts will mean to British Columbians.”
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Budget update – operating grants to districts unchanged
BC School Trustees Association
This afternoon, the government released its September update to its budget and fiscal plan. For K-12 education, the operating grants to boards remain unchanged to the amounts announced last February. However, other segments of the budget that cover facility grants and other discretionary grants have been cut.
Funding for the gradual implementation of full-day Kindergarten will appear in future budgets, with an additional $44 million expected for 2010 and $107 million for 2011. Although no exemptions from the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) were announced for boards of education, Finance Minister Colin Hansen said that governments will look at any incremental costs incurred by boards due to the HST when planning for next year’s budget.
President Denesiuk stated that, “while it is good news that board allocations have not been reduced, we know that costs continue to rise, increasing financial pressure on boards. The loss of AFG funding and other discretionary grants will have a significant impact on boards and will affect staffing and programs.”
The latest BC Liberal budget, delivered one week before students head back to school, will not protect public education and will lead to more cuts in our classrooms, BC Teachers’ Federation Vice-President Susan Lambert said today.
“Once again, this government has brought forward a budget that will see school boards pressured to make dramatic cuts to BC’s kids,” said Lambert. “School boards will be forced to pay for an increase in Medical Service Plan rates, the first since 2002, without receiving any extra funding to cover the costs. That will have a direct impact on classrooms.”
As students get ready to head back to the classroom, school boards are already reeling from a $110 million cut to the Annual Facilities Grant. Over the summer, school boards planned and in most cases paid for important school repairs and upgrades. Last week, the minister of education abruptly announced that grant would no longer be funded, sending many district budgets into disarray.
“The government’s promise to implement all-day Kindergarten is also raising big red flags,” said Lambert. “There’s no new funding this year to start planning, developing curriculum, or securing space. We could be looking at another broken promise and more disappointment a year from now.
“This budget doesn’t even meet the needs of students today, let alone a year from now. There is no new funding to reduce class sizes or improve support for students with special needs. We already know that there will be 500–600 fewer teachers when classes resume next week. This budget will only make things worse for BC’s kids.”
In addition to the $110 million cut to the Annual Facilities Grant, school boards were told last spring to cut $12 million in their administration costs. The government also cut the operating funding for BC School Sports, an organization that runs extra-curricular athletic programs across the province.
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Working families pay more, get less
CUPE BC
NEWS RELEASE – September 1, 2009
BC Budget increases middle class tax burden
VICTORIA—The Provincial Budget announced today cuts jobs, reduces services for people who need them most, and continues the Liberal shift of the tax burden away from corporations and the wealthy onto the middle class, says the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
“The government can’t have it both ways,” says CUPE BC president Barry O’Neill. “They can’t say, on one hand, that the budget is all about protecting vital services while at the same time cutting funds for K-12 and post-secondary education, student aid and day care.”
School boards will be particularly hard hit by the Budget, facing more than $130 million cuts in both of the next two years. In addition, school boards will not be exempt from the Harmonized Sales Tax. “And we’re not talking about frills with these cuts. Even repair costs that accompany seismic upgrades in public schools, such as roof replacements, mechanical and electrical system upgrades, and asbestos abatement, are no longer funded,” says O’Neill.
With post-secondary institutions also getting cuts in infrastructure funding, the condition of B.C. colleges and universities will continue to deteriorate, he adds. Working families and the middle class will have to eat new MSP and HST expenses, and students who can’t find jobs in the summer will have their student aid cut.
The BC Budget also hurts communities with cuts to community service agencies. Capital project grants, playground grants and three-year grants will no longer be eligible for funding this year from community gaming grants.
Nor is daycare exempt from the budget knife. “How can the government boast about protecting vital services when they’re cutting daycare in the Downtown Eastside?” asks O’Neill, referring specifically to cuts at Ray-Cam Cooperative Community Centre in Vancouver, which lost three positions that work with special needs children.
“What all British Columbians expect is fair taxation. But middle class families will pay more in regressive taxes like the HST and the MSP while wealthy British Columbians will get more of the benefits from tax cuts. How is that fair?”
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CCPA – Policy Notes
For K-12 education the picture is much worse, with a cut of $31 million from February — a measly $3 million increase over 2008/09 (on a budget of $5.7 billion). This is going to hurt and already school districts and schools across BC are implementing cuts to staff and increases in class size. For post-secondary education there is an increase of $160 million from February and $177 million, or 3.9%, over 2008/09 – not great (especially with the prospect of rising enrollment due to the recession) but increases nonetheless.
What is going to sting are a litany of smaller cuts spread across all of the government’s operations, in particular reduced or eliminated grants to NGO service providers and charities, arts and culture groups, and students. All told these cuts are tiny compared to the overall provincial budget, but devastating to the programs themselves.
