THE receivers for ABC Learning, acting on behalf of banks owed $1 billion following the childcare operator’s collapse last year, are expected to formally begin the sale of the 715 viable centres as early as this week.
The receivers – lead by Chris Honey of McGrathNicol – have until March 31 to sell the remaining 715 childcare centres or face eviction….
However, the centres are expected to sell for less than $1 billion, and even the banks are not expected to get their money back….
ABC Learning is expected to finally be wound up at that meeting, which would open the way for legal action against the company’s former auditors and company executives, including former chief executive Eddy Groves. There could also be a challenge to the banks’ ranking above all other creditors in the queue for more than $1.6 billion….
The Honourable Steven L. Point, OBC Lieutenant-Governor at the Opening of the First Session, Thirty-Ninth Parliament of the Province of British Columbia, August 25, 2009
… Government will place early learning and early-childhood development at the forefront of efforts to improve our education services.
Neighbourhood learning centres will become the focus of intensive activities with city councils, library boards, recreation commissions, parents and professionals. Government will work to establish educational and preschool opportunities in the midst of the neighbourhoods where our families live. Together, we can work to centre neighbourhoods and communities on the needs of our families, their children’s education and the environment.
Full-time, five-year-old kindergarten will begin to be delivered in schools throughout British Columbia in September of 2010…..
Throne speech signals continued instability for the public sector
BCGEU
Aug 26 ’09
The B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union says yesterday’s throne speech does little to ease British Columbians’ concerns about the future of the province’s vital public services.
“This throne speech signals widespread cuts that are irresponsible in our current economic situation,” says BCGEU President Darryl Walker.
References to cuts in the throne speech were vague, but signaled an uncertain future for health care, community social services, and other public services in British Columbia.
“The cuts that have been made so far have affected the most vulnerable,” says Walker, referring to the recent cuts to legal aid, libraries, literacy programs, student aid, housing, seniors’ services, and mental health and addictions services.
“It seems like the opposite of what British Columbians need right now.”
The BCGEU is critical of the government’s lack of proper planning to avoid the rash of cutbacks that will serve to deepen the effects of the recession.
“Just a few months ago the government was saying that everything was fine and now we are looking at deeper cuts and larger deficits,” says Walker.
“Communities rely on public services and public sector employment to stay alive,” says Walker. “If the government follows through on plans from earlier this year to cut up to 5% of the public service, we will see a huge impact on local economies that are already suffering. It could mean as many as 1,500 jobs cut, and over $200 million in lost economic activity in communities around BC.”
In terms of the public sector wage freeze, Walker states, “The government offers contradictory messages when talking about the public service. They re-announce a wage freeze but then talk about rejuvenation of the public service.”
“They are well aware of the issues we face in recruitment and retention in the public sector, and wages and other ways to solve these issues are something that we will be discussing at the bargaining table next year.”
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Spending cuts would kill thousands jobs and deepen recession Report calculates economic and social impacts of limiting deficit during recession
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Aug 27, 2009
(VANCOUVER) In the wake of Tuesday’s Throne Speech signaling major cuts in public spending, a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) cautions that cuts will only make the recession worse.
CCPA’s modeling shows the status quo (or underlying) deficit for the current year will likely be between $3.2 and $3.9 billion. If the provincial government cuts between $1 billion and $2 billion in public spending to reduce the size of that deficit, it will further depress GDP by 0.9% to 1.8%, kill 18,000 to 35,000 jobs, and increase the unemployment rate by up to 1.5%.
That spells a deeper and longer recession, according to Iglika Ivanova, economist and author of September BC Budget Reality Check: Facing the Full Force of the Recession. “These deficits are cyclical. They are a direct result of the recession and do not threaten the long-term health of provincial finances. On the other hand, cutting spending during a serious recession will actually harm the economy.”
“The vast majority of policy makers in Canada now recognize the vital role of governments in stimulating the economy to protect jobs and incomes during a recession,” says Ivanova. “Yet despite having abandoned its balanced budget legislation earlier this year, BC’s government seems determined to run as small a deficit as possible — even if it has to cut key public programs and services to do so.”
“Spending cuts will make it harder for low and middle income British Columbians to weather the recession. BC already has the highest child poverty rate in the country. We cannot afford to push more people into hardship,” says Ivanova. “Middle class families already take home lower incomes than their parents’ generation, and most entered the recession with record-high debt. Reducing access to services like child care or public libraries will only shift costs onto individual families.”
The report recommends that the provincial government accept recession-driven deficits and protect vital public services, and fully fund the budget shortfalls of health authorities and school boards. It recommends additional stimulus spending to cushion the impact of the recession, to be invested in social and green infrastructure and poverty reduction measures.
Grassroots Women says B.C. government needs to adequately address the childcare crisis
Grassroots Women BC
August 26, 2009
Vancouver, B.C. – The B.C. government’s announcement on Tuesday for funding full-day kindergarten in September 2010 does little for working-class moms and kids preparing to go back to school in a matter of weeks.
“B.C. is not only lagging behind other provinces, they are also not dealing with the entire problem,” states Monica Urrutia, Chair of Grassroots Women.
Grassroots Women has been raising awareness on the actual state of the childcare crisis and its impact on working-class women and their children. Nothing is being done to address the needs of many families regarding pre-school aged children and for school-aged children before and after school hours.
“As a single mom I’m constantly juggling my part-time job with childcare needs for my two children,” shares Hetty Alcuitas, member of Grassroots Women. “My son is starting kindergarten this fall and full-day kindergarten would have helped a bit, but it would not resolve my problem of what to do with my children before and after school when I’m supposed to be at work.” she says.
B.C. has the worst record of child poverty in Canada and women cannot address their poverty without a comprehensive childcare solution. Grassroots Women has been calling for universal childcare as a woman’s right for years, and last month held a press conference calling on the Minister and her Opposition Critic to clearly state what both political parties are doing to address the childcare crisis now.
“We also fear that this upcoming budget announcement will deepen the poverty working-class women and children live with everyday. Cuts to health and education will immediately impact the services these families receive, and it is often these very women who then end up bearing the burden and filling the gap, when they are already dealing with the onslaught of the current financial crisis,” adds Urrutia.
Grassroots Women continues to call on the government to seriously address the childcare crisis and end the planned cuts to needed social services.
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Throne speech signals uncertainty for health care
Hospital Employees’ Union
August 25, 2009
The Hospital Employees’ Union says today’s throne speech offers little comfort to B.C. families and communities who need to know that quality and accessible health care will be available even in tough economic times.
The government’s promise to protect health care has already been badly compromised by its direction to health authorities to make more than $300 million in spending cuts to critical services, including seniors’ care, community health programs, surgeries and diagnostic procedures.
“British Columbians are looking to government to ensure that health care and other vital public services are protected, especially when their own economic security is at risk,” says HEU secretary-business manager Judy Darcy.
“But government’s actions so far this summer and the message in today’s throne speech provide little reassurance to families and communities.”
Darcy says a planned review of health authority spending and operations will fail if its chief objective is to pave the way for further cuts.
“Our health care system is already stretched to capacity. Further cuts to front-line services and staff would be a costly mistake,” says Darcy.
“A rushed review to meet budget pressures is doomed to fail patients and cost taxpayers more in the long run. Careful planning and consultation with front-line staff is key to finding better ways to deliver services to the public.”
In response to the government’s re-announcement of a public-sector wage freeze, HEU says that the province’s fiscal situation must be balanced against the reality of ongoing retention and recruitment issues.
For many health professionals represented by HEU, like Licensed Practical Nurses, wages are no longer competitive with those in neighbouring provinces and do not reflect increased training requirements and expanded responsibilities.
“Government has acknowledged that we need to rejuvenate the ranks in health care and other parts of the public sector in the face of an aging workforce,” says Darcy.
“Our union is committed to working with government at the bargaining table and in other venues to make sure that British Columbians continue to have access to skilled and experienced health care workers in the future.”
EDDY Groves had promised his daughters he would take them to Disneyland for the Easter school holidays.
His travel plans alarmed the corporate watchdog, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, which this week applied to the Federal Court to freeze the failed childcare entrepreneur’s assets and seize his passport…
The collapse threatened the closure of 1020 childcare centres – one in every five centres in Australia, caring for 120,000 children – and sparked a Senate inquiry into childcare.
Taxpayers have spent $56m to keep failed ABC centres running. More than 70 centres have closed and 220 have been sold to new operators….
With Our Best Future in Mind: Implementing Early Learning in Ontario Charles E. Pascal, Special Advisor on Early Learning
Highlights of the Full Day Learning Plan
A single program would be in place, with a single child-focused curriculum, planned and delivered by a qualified team of educators using common space and resources.
Families would have the option of enrolling their 4- and 5-year-olds for the full school day or half day. Extended-day options would also be provided, funded by parent fees.
Certified teachers and early childhood educators working together would complement each other’s skills and give every child a better early learning experience.
What happens to children after the bell rings is also important – by affordable, extended-day and summer programming for children to 12 years old the education system will be strengthened even further.
Schools as hubs for child and family programming would contribute to better outcomes for children and stronger communities.
Integrating early learning into a single program would result in savings for parents compared with the cost of traditional licensed child care for 4- to 12-year-olds.
Best Start Child and Family Centres would be formed by consolidating many existing early childhood services into one-stop access for families that include flexible child care, parenting information and resources, play groups, intervention supports for children with special challenges, and links to community agencies.
Municipalities would provide local leadership for programs for children under 4. School boards would provide local leadership for children from 4 to 12 years old. Provincial leadership would be consolidated under the Ministry of Education.
The first phase of implementation would include new opportunities for children living in low-income neighbourhoods – and province-wide implementation of full day learning within three years will benefit all children.
Incremental costs to implement the full day learning plan are estimated at under $1 billion.
A longer-term goal is to extend parental leave and benefits to allow parents to spend more time with their babies and to reduce the need for expensive infant care.
Background:
Research shows that children enrolled in full-day learning are better prepared for Grade 1, do better in elementary school, and are more likely to graduate high school.
One in four Ontario children arrives in Grade 1 with vulnerabilities (social, emotional, physical) and/or learning difficulties. Full-day learning can help identify and address learning problems earlier, avoiding costly and less-effective interventions later.
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Responses to the report and plan
Ontario’s Plan Applauded for Supporting Healthy Children AND Working Families
Media release from CCAAC
June 15, 2009
OTTAWA, ONTARIO — (Marketwire – June 15, 2009) – The Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada (CCAAC) applauds the report called “With our Best Future in Mind – Implementing Early Learning in Ontario.” The recommendations made in this report, if implemented, will ensure that the provincial government meets its commitment to integrate early learning and child care programs across Ontario for 4 and 5 year olds. Authored by Charles Pascal, the Premier’s Special Advisor on Early Learning, the report reflects research, international evidence and family needs – all of which support universal access to quality programs that provide both part-time and full-time choices for parents.
“We commend the Ontario plan for ending two ‘false divides’ often created by governments when it comes to early learning and child care,” states Susan Harney of the CCAAC. “The plan recognizes what parents already know – ‘good child care educates’ and ‘good education cares’.”
Pascal’s recommendations end the traditional divide between education and care, integrating early learning and care into one seamless program. The plan also recognizes that we don’t need to choose between social and economic benefits, between short and long-term impacts, between meeting the needs of children or their working parents. Pascal’s comprehensive recommendations end the false divide between these benefits and impacts, showing that early learning and care programs provide benefits for children, families, communities AND our economy both now AND into the future….
Early Learning Advisor’s Recommendations Would Benefit Families and Municipalities
Media release from Association of Municipalities of Ontario
TORONTO, June 15 /CNW/ – The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) today welcomed the release of the report of the Early Learning and Child Care Advisor Charles Pascal.
“AMO looks forward to reviewing the report in detail and to learning more about the Province’s response to the report’s recommendations,” said AMO President Peter Hume.
The report calls for a new provincially funded, school-based system of early learning and child care for four and five year olds. Children under four years of age would continue to be served in the municipally managed system. By removing four and five year olds from the municipal system, the existing resources in that system would be used to better serve children under four, with the hope of increasing access to child care for families with young children.
“A strong early learning and child care system supports a strong and competitive economy. This report calls on the province to make a significant investment in our children and in Ontario’s future prosperity,” said Hume.
The report calls municipalities, “leaders among leaders”, recognizing the need for municipalities to manage and deliver the early learning and child care system for children under the age of four. It also recommends that municipalities have a key role in working with school boards and other partners in the community to develop an integrated early years and child care system for all children in Ontario.
The report contains 20 recommendations for the transformation of early learning and child care in Ontario, many with significant implications for municipalities. Understanding these implications more fully in conjunction with the province’s commitment to investing needed additional resources will ultimately determine the municipal sector’s support for the proposed changes.
AMO is a non-profit organization representing almost all of Ontario’s 444 municipal governments. AMO supports strong and effective municipal government in Ontario and promotes the value of municipal government as a vital and essential component of Ontario and Canada’s political system.
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Betting on the kids Globe and Mail
Ken Battle; Sherri Torjman, President and vice-president, Caledon Institute of Social Policy
June 17, 2009
Some of Canada’s social programs perform well internationally – public pensions and child benefits come to mind – but we fare miserably when it comes to early learning and child care (Early Is Not Everything – editorial, June 16). Among 25 OECD countries surveyed recently by Unicef, Canada ranked last (along with Ireland) on a set of internationally applicable benchmarks for early childhood care and education.
Most Canadian parents are in the work force, and have to cobble together bits and pieces of child care and early learning for their children. Decades of research and effort on the part of parents, experts and advocates have finally become accepted wisdom: Early learning and child care are crucial to Canada’s social and economic health.
High-quality early learning and child-care services are not just social policy – they’re also core elements of economic policy because they invest in the critical first years of human capital development and enable parents to work or study.
The Pascal report has drawn a bold new architecture for early learning and child care in Ontario. We hope it will spread to other provinces.
New figures from Statistics Canada show that B.C. leads the nation in child poverty for the sixth year in a row
The Province
Jun 4 2009
By: Ian Austin
The StatsCan figures show that 13 per cent of B.C. residents under18 live in poverty — the highest percentage in Canada and well above the national child-poverty average of 9.5 per cent.
On the plus side, the just-released 2007 numbers — the latest available — represent a drop from 2006, when the B.C. rate was 16.5 per cent and the national rate was 11.4 per cent.
“There was some good news in 2007 — the rate was coming down — but B.C. had the highest child-poverty rate for the sixth year in a row,” said Adrienne Montani, principal co-ordinator for First Call, the B.C. Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition.
Montani’s biggest worry was the statistic for single-mother families.
In B.C., 37.4 per cent of children in those families were living in poverty, compared with a national average of 26.6 per cent.
“That’s more than one in three,” said Montani. “There seems to be denial here — the government simply says, ‘The best answer to poverty is a job.'”
Steve Kerstetter of the First Call co-ordinating committee …”There is no magic bullet when you talk about poverty,” he said. “We have too many people working at low-wage jobs. Too many people who are working part of the year, not the whole year, and too many people working part-time.”
Kerstetter said B.C. is a magnet for new immigrants, making the child-poverty issue worse here.
First Call is asking for a minimum 25-per-cent reduction in the child poverty rate by 2012, and a minimum 50 per cent by 2017….
FIRST CALL’S SUGGESTIONS TO ADDRESS CHILD POVERTY
– Raise the minimum wage from $10 to $10.76 per hour immediately, with annual increases pegged to increases in the cost of living.
– Abolish the $6 per hour training wage.
– Make the federal government provide universal access to high-quality, accessible child care.
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BC still the worst in the country for child poverty Roughly 13 per cent of BC’s children living in poverty Andrea Macpherson
NEWS1130
June 3rd, 2009
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Once again, B.C. has the most children in the country living in poverty. The latest stats from 2007 show the child poverty rate actually dropped to 13 per cent, from 16.5. But according to Stats Canada that was still well above the national rate of 9.5 per cent. Julie Norton with First Call, the B.C. Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition says it’s shameful that B.C. has the highest rate of child poverty for six years in a row.
She wants to see a commitment to cut child poverty rates in half by 2017 and she wants the government to recognize child poverty as a real issue. Norton also says with people losing their jobs in this recession, there’ll be more poor families in the province in the future.
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Despite big improvement, B.C. child poverty rate remains Canada’s worst FERNANDO CARNEIRO
METRO VANCOUVER
June 04, 2009
A significant decrease in the number of children living in poverty in 2007 wasn’t enough to keep British Columbia from having the worst childhood poverty rate in the country for the sixth year in a row.
According to Statistics Canada, 13 per cent of children in B.C. lived in poverty in 2007 — a 3.5 per cent improvement over the previous year.
The national average in 2007 was 9.5 per cent.
B.C. NDP Leader Carole James described the numbers as “very worrisome.”
“Those figures are from 2007 when the economy was booming,” James said. “When times are good you should take care of the fundamentals so when times are bad people can take care of their families.”…
James said investments in childcare, affordable housing and stimulus spending, as well a minimum wage increase are needed to pull children and their families out of poverty.
“The Advocacy Committee of the Vancouver Board of Education Trustees prepared and distributed a questionnaire to Vancouver candidates running for office in this spring’s provincial election to solicit their views on public education. (Membership in the Advocacy Committee includes trustees, employee groups, parents and students.)”
Question 6:
Poverty is a significant factor influencing a students learning and success ins school. What would you to do to ensure equitable learning outcomes for all Vancouver students?
NDP candidate’s replies to question #6 “Research confirms that quality child care during the early years positively influences children’s health and learning. The BC NDP will build a publicly funded, affordable, accessible and quality child care system across BC. We will start by addressing the crisis in the existing system through enhanced funding. As finances permit we will introduce all day kindergarten for 5 year olds with before and after school care. “
Liberals reply:
Only reference was to “child care subsidies”.
BC Greens: varied replies to this question.
“BC Greens will promote instruction in nutrition and healthy living.”
Another Green candidate mentioned “Guaranteed Annual Income”.
Georgia Straight
By Rita Chudnovsky, consultant with the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C.
The provincial election is off and running, and once again families and communities know that childcare should be a high priority for every candidate in every riding.
After eight years of failed policies, ad hoc decisions, and inadequate funding, B.C. childcare is in a crisis. Just ask any young family in your community about their struggle to find affordable, quality care, and you will hear: Parent fees are high and rising.
In urban areas like Vancouver and Victoria, child-care fees can account for 20 percent of families’ total expenses—the second highest cost after housing. A Vancouver family with a four-year-old child in full-time childcare and a seven-year-old child in after-school care will pay at least $982 a month or $11,784 a year for childcare.
A large Vancouve-based child-care provider reports that without a significant increase in provincial funding, next year fees could be as high as $1,000 a month for three- to five-year-old children
But this is not just an urban issue. From 2001 to 2006, annual child-care fees for preschool-aged children in B.C. went up by $672. For school-aged care, the increase was more than $800.
The crisis doesn’t stop there. There still aren’t enough quality spaces.
Wait lists for quality childcare are years long. Only 14 percent of B.C. children under the age of 12 have access to a licensed child-care space. Despite government’s claims that they are creating new spaces, this is only a two percent increase since 2001 and still falls far short of the need.
And, low wages have created a staffing crisis in child care.
A recent survey of B.C.’s early childhood educators reports that almost half of these college-trained professionals earn less than $16 an hour. This includes people with 20 years experience in the field.
The B.C. child-care crisis didn’t fall from the sky. The seeds were planted in 2002 when the newly elected provincial government scrapped the $7-a-day school-aged child-care program that funded 15,000 affordable, quality spaces and cancelled plans to extend funding to care for other age groups.
Then, the government cut $40 million from its own child-care budget. These dollars were only replaced when the federal government transferred funds to B.C. that could only be spent on child care. The reality is that B.C. is spending fewer provincial dollars on childcare than in 2001.
As a result, long-time providers are teetering on the brink of closing their doors because of lack of funding. The tragic irony is that despite demand, not all spaces are filled because parents cannot afford the high fees.
It is children and families who pay the price. Some children have already lost their only chance to get a good early start. In fact, the number of children entering kindergarten who are vulnerable went up in B.C. over the last nine years.
Communities also paid the price as they were unable to attract and keep young families or fill vacant jobs because of the lack of quality, affordable child care.
Rather than implement a plan with targets and timelines for meeting B.C.’s child-care needs, the government held out the promise of all-day kindergarten but backed away because of the cost. Even this stalled initiative ignored the child-care needs of the majority of B.C. families who need full time early care and learning so that they can work.
The good news is that there are solutions. Other developed countries have systems that meet children’s developmental needs and the needs of working families. Shamefully, Canada ranks last amongst developed countries on our investment in child care.
This provincial election is an ideal time to put this issue front and centre on every party’s agenda and to find solutions for B.C.
B.C. families are looking for candidates who are committed to solving the crisis. We are looking for candidates who understand that investment in childcare is an essential part of an economic recovery strategy. It creates jobs for women and men, helps families during stressful times, and promotes healthy child development which reduces costs down the road.
For any enlightened politician, it should be a no-brainer. This election, let’s make sure that it gets done!
POVERTY; HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS; ENVIRONMENT AND MUNICIPAL INFRASTRUCTURE; HEALTH CARE; SOCIAL SERVICES and ADULT GUARDIANSHIP & SENIORS PLUS:
3. CHILD CARE
What is your party’s specific strategy to improve families’ access to high-quality child care and improve participation rates of women in the labour market?
5. EDUCATION
What steps will you and your government take to
improve learning and support services to children and youth with special needs in the school system
restore adequate financing to public schools?
6. ABORIGINAL CHILD WELFARE
If you and your party are elected and form government, what will you do to reduce this hugely disproportionate number of aboriginal children and youth in care or custody?
9. WOMEN AND MARGINALIZED GROUPS
If you and your party are elected and form government, what specifically will you and your government do to protect the most vulnerable and marginalized?
December 17, 2008 letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Re: Stimulating the Economy by Investing in Women: Smart Approach to Economic Recovery [EXCERPT]
Child Care
Invest in a national child care program will provide needed early learning for children and allow for women’s fuller participation in paid employment. As the December 2008 UNICEF report and others have pointed out, Canada ranks last in child-care provision among developed countries.
Budget 2009 should provide:
Adequate and sustained transfers to provinces and territories to increase access to quality, affordable child care spaces and services;
Accountability mechanisms with provincial plans, timelines and targets for lowering parent fees and adding public or community-owned spaces. In addition, federal transfers should raise wages for trained staff, alleviating the current recruitment and retention crisis in Canada by providing a living wage and raising service quality accordingly;
It is important that training and adjustment programs are accessible to women and extend beyond the industries immediately impacted. Spending on training for child care and other services should also be part of any training initiative.
Sincerely,
Joanna A. Czapska, on behalf of The B.C. CEDAW Group: Carrie Humchitt, Aboriginal Women’s Action Network; Susan Harney, Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC; Alison Brewin & Kasari Govender, W. Coast Women’s Legal Education & Action Fund; Annabel Webb and Joanna A. Czapska, Justice for Girls; Narmeen Hashim & Leilani Farha, Women’s Housing Equality Network (Canada)
From February 13 until the provincial election on May 12, 2009 much of the work of the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC will be governed by BC’s Bill 42 – the Election Amendment Act.
This new provincial law, also known as the ‘Election Gag Law’, defines public communication of commentary on issues that are, or may be associated with, a political party or candidate as ‘election advertising.
Groups like ours are now required to register with Elections BC and report on our ‘election advertising’ spending.
While we abhor this anti democratic law – we have registered. And … Any Election Advertising on the web site is authorized by the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC, 604-515-5439. Registration # EAS-2009-0024.
On May 12, BC will go to the polls to elect a new government. Our goal is to support you to make child care an election issue in every BC riding. It is your voices telling the stories of your community, your child, your family and your child care program that will make the difference.
In the coming weeks, we will be posting our Election Kit with ideas, tools and materials to use to make child care an issue for all the candidates in your riding.
Until then, here’s how you can get election ready:
Make sure everyone you know is on the voter’s list.
Collect the names and contact info for the candidates in your riding.
Make friends with a local journalist. Invite them for coffee, give them some child care background and tell them child care IS an election issue.
Think about creating a small Flying Stroller Squad to show up at every election event in your riding with those wonderful, home made child care signs. (Watch for more on the Squads in our Election Kit)
To make it easy for you to be heard, we will print and mail copies of any Coalition advocacy materials that you want to use in your communities during the election for no cost. Just email us at info@cccabc.bc.ca with the name of the document, the number you need and your address – and they will be on their way.
In the coming weeks, we urge you to join us once again as we rise with strength and determination. Make this election count in your community. Use your creativity, your unique expressions and your skill to get the child care message heard. Our province deserves a quality, community based, affordable and accessible child care SYSTEM.
Together we remain strong!
Any Election Advertising on the web site is authorized by the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC, 604-515-5439. Registration # EAS-2009-0024
#1. Teachers vote to leave premier’s failed Learning Round Table BCTF News Release
March 16, 2009
After three years of meetings and no progress, the 700 elected delegates at the BCTF Annual General Meeting voted to leave the government’s failed Learning Round Table.
“The Learning Round Table has had 12 meetings since Premier Gordon Campbell first announced it, but after three years it has become nothing more than a public relations exercise,” said BCTF President Irene Lanzinger. “Teachers have been full participants in the Round Table, but after years of broken promises and government stalling, they are frustrated. There is no concrete plan or funding to reduce class sizes and improve support for children with special needs.”
At the last Round Table meeting in January, the data presented by the Minister of Education show 3,336 class-size violations with more than 30 students for the 2008–09 school year. That is up from 3,179 in 2007–08. There are also 10,985 class-composition violations this year. That means there are close to 11,000 classes with four or more students with special needs. That number is up from 10,313 in 2007–08. In 2005–06, when BC teachers first went on strike, there were 10,942 violations.
“Learning conditions in BC are worse today than they were before the 2005 strike,” said Lanzinger. “Representatives have gone to meeting after meeting, with no positive results. To stay at the table, teachers were looking see a concrete plan and new resources. Unfortunately, the provincial budget made it clear that there will not be enough funding to even cover basic costs.”
The latest BC Liberal budget, which ignored class-size concerns and support for children with special needs, will force school districts to make cuts. The small 1.26% increase to public education is less than inflation, and will not cover salary increases. In addition, 33 school districts in the province have had their budgets frozen. As a result, students, teachers, and parents should brace for more cuts when the 2009–10 school year begins, Lanzinger said.
Delegates at the BCTF AGM passed the following:
That the Federation inform the government that it is withdrawing from the Learning Round Table because the government has failed to provide resources necessary to improve the teaching and learning conditions in BC classrooms.
That the Federation communicate this decision and the reasons for it to trustees, parent committees, and the public in general.
That the Federation continue to meet bilaterally with the minister of education as contained in the Ready recommendations to affect positive changes to class size and class composition.
#2. Provincial Child Care Council
The Child Care Council’s mandate is:
to provide advice and expertise on policies and programs which affect the affordability, quality, stability and accessibility of child care, and;
to represent the regional and sectoral interest of parents, children, caregivers and communities.
Child-care cash still on its way Times Colonist (Victoria)
February 9, 2006
By: Jeff Rud
…. The rest of the $633-million, five-year deal reached by B.C. with the former federal Liberal government will be scrapped. Harper will instead implement the Conservative child care plan, providing families with $1,200 a year for every child under six starting July 1. …B.C. Minister of State for Child Care Linda Reid seemed pleased the province will get second-year funding. “In the campaign, [Harper] wasn’t honouring any part of the agreement,” she said. “In basically a few short days we’re up to Year 2. I think we’re doing fine.”
Not everybody agrees. NDP Leader Carole James said Premier Gordon Campbell hasn’t done enough to pressure Harper into honouring the five-year commitment.
The vice-chairwoman of B.C.’s Provincial Child Care Council has also resigned over the province’s lack of fight for the program. Heather Northrup, appointed to the council by both NDP and Liberal governments, said other premiers publicly pressured Harper to live up to the five-year deal.
“I was quite discouraged when I didn’t hear British Columbia as one of those voices,” Northrup said. “Having worked so hard on the Provincial Child Care Council and seeing the B.C. and Canadian governments sign an agreement last September, providing B.C.’s families with $633 million, I couldn’t reconcile the two. And at the end of the day I needed to resign.”
Reid dismissed the resignation, saying Northrup’s term was almost up anyway. …James said Campbell didn’t show appropriate leadership on the issue.
“We should have heard him speaking out last week to say child care was a priority. We certainly should have heard him making statements after the prime minister announced on the day he was sworn in that he was cancelling the agreement. All children and families got from this premier was silence.”
The five-year deal would have been a great start at creating a long-term sustainable child care system, Northrup said. In Vancouver, she said some day-care centres have waiting lists of 1,500 children.
The promised $1,200 a year to parents from Harper won’t go far, Northrup said, when day care rates for toddlers can hit $1,100 a month.
DEBATES OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
Afternoon Sitting – EXCERPTS
Clare Trevena
…. I know that the government keeps talking about child care subsidies, but child care subsidies don’t create the spaces that are needed, the spaces that are desperately wanted and that should be part of our social infrastructure.
Decent wages for early childhood educators would create those spaces. You pay enough to employ people so that people stay at work, come back to the profession, continue to work. You create the spaces because for every early childhood educator that’s working, you have either four or eight children who have a place in a child care centre….
This would be a stimulus. This would be a worthwhile use of a deficit — to invest in child care. Because if you start investing in child care, you’re investing in business and investing in the future….
The B.C. Chamber of Commerce has asked for it. The B.C. board of trade has asked for it. They’re all advocating child care. ….
It would have helped the parents. It would have helped businesses. It would have helped nurses, people in retail, ferry workers. It would have helped across the board. It’s an investment in our economy today, and it’s an investment in our future. Child care provides not only assistance to families today, but it is creating a nurturing environment for our citizens of tomorrow, the people who will be responsible for our province in the years to come.
Meanwhile we do have parents who are tearing their hair out because of the government’s inaction on all-day kindergarten, who are now still looking for child care. Other parents who have children in the school system now are very fearful because they read between the lines of this budget.
They know that it’s going to mean cuts. It’s going to mean cuts in education, which is already overstretched because of the per-pupil funding formula. Even by increasing the amount per pupil, it’s not going to balance the inequities in our small communities.
Linda Reid
Supporting safe, affordable child care is a priority for this government. …knowing that their little ones are well cared for. ….
….Of course, the story is not just about the number of spaces, but it is about how child care has changed in the last few years…. Child care has no one-size-fits-all solution. … we’ve taken measures to increase choice and flexibility.
…. We have also created more than 1,000 spaces in family child care settings, ….You think about that, particularly around special needs youngsters.
Oftentimes you’re going to have, as an example, a youngster with Down syndrome. That family may believe and it may well be in that child’s best interests to be in a setting of five or seven children, rather than in a setting of 20 or 24 or 16 children. … family choice is something we take into consideration ….
…co-located integrated service that make wonderful sense for communities. … joint ventures with the Ministry of Education to put more than 500 new licensed spaces in public and independent schools during the ’08-09 school year
…. Here in British Columbia we are guided by five principles that convey our vision for child care….
The first is accessibility: increasing the number of child care spaces ….
The second is quality: to create safe, stimulating environments that support the emotional, social, cognitive and physical skills ….
The third principle is human resource development: supporting recruitment and retention of high-quality care providers and supporting their professional development opportunities.
… Co-locating services benefits families and builds on the ideas that community takes many forms …
The fifth principle, and one that is top of mind in these times of fiscal restraint, is sustainability. ….
C. Trevena: The Teddy Bear Daycare in Whistler is closing at the end of May, and the operators have told parents in a letter that it’s because “the day care space will not be available during the 2010 Olympic period.”
Last spring when the issue of child care in Whistler was raised in this House, the minister of state advised parents to go to another centre, which is about 20 kilometres away. I’d like to advise the minister that that centre is closing, and the centre in Whistler is closing, and there is nothing available for parents in Whistler or the surrounding areas. I’d like to ask if the minister of state can give some advice to working parents in Whistler on what they should do about their child care.
Hon. L. Reid: I thank the member opposite for her question. This government continues to oversee the largest child care budget ever — an enormous sum of money. We continue to work with the individuals in Whistler, and I, in fact, have visited there many times in terms of addressing the recruitment issues, the retention issues, the real estate issues. We’ll continue to work with them, because our challenge is to continue to provide day care services across British Columbia, and they continue to be in regular contact with our offices.
C. Trevena: To the minister of state. I’m very intrigued that she’s carrying on talking to the various communities in Whistler, because since she started talking we’ve lost 46 spaces in the community, and we don’t actually have any space for parents who are looking for child care.
The operators of the Teddy Bear Daycare are a major company. They’re Whistler Blackcomb, which is part of the Intrawest group, and that company recognizes that child care is important for the community and for a successful business.
In the letter to parents which was informing them of the closure, it actually says: “We realize that quality child care is essential to the success of the community.” Whistler Blackcomb recognizes it. B.C. Chamber of Commerce recognizes it. The board of trade recognizes it. But seriously, I think the minister is paying lip service to it.
I’d like to ask the minister: if the Olympics is supposed to attract people to British Columbia, what message is being given to families? The fact that these child care spaces are closing as we approach the Olympics — is this the minister’s legacy for the Olympics, for the working families in Whistler?
Hon. L. Reid: Absolutely, this government understands the importance of building child care space, which is why we’ve built 6,000 new child care spaces across British Columbia. We have invested $34 million in capital construction, and we continue to provide subsidies to 90,000 licensed child care spaces. That is double what it was when we came to government.
C. Trevena: On Monday the Minister of State for Childcare was unable to offer any assurances to families in Whistler who need child care spaces. Last Friday Spring Creek closed its doors with 22 spaces for three-to-five-year-olds gone, and 20 spaces for infants and toddlers have also gone. In May we hear that the Teddy Bear Daycare is closing its doors, so losing another 16 spaces.
The latter is closing because of the Olympics and the former because they simply can’t get the staff. The wait-list is closed at the only other child care centre in town, the Whistler Children’s Centre, and there are 96 families waiting for child care there.
I’d like to ask the Minister of State for Childcare: what’s she going to do about this?
Hon. L. Reid: I can tell the members that we continue to work with both of those centres, and certainly some of them have some credentialing issues — no question. Oftentimes the training is undertaken in jurisdictions outside of British Columbia, but our staff and in the early childhood education registry are fast-tracking those applications as they come forward.
We are working with the centres in terms of providing additional space, and indeed, we have a centre today that has space. We have a centre today that has some additional staff. We’re going to do our very best to pull those together to continue to deliver child care services.
Mr. Speaker: The member has a supplemental.
C. Trevena: It’s very interesting that the minister says that she is working with these centres. She was working with them last summer when we first started asking these questions — last spring. Since then we’ve got two gone and about 46 spaces gone. I’m a bit concerned about how the working is going to continue.
The minister really seems to fail to recognize the crisis. There is nothing in Whistler. There is almost nothing in Pemberton. In Squamish…. Yes, they got a new centre. In 2007 they were able to open their doors, but they didn’t get the funding to create the spaces. So they have a centre there with 20 spaces, eight of which can’t be opened because they can’t get the staff — to hire them. [
So I would like for the minister to actually understand the reality and explain to the people of Whistler how they are going to ensure that those 96 families — plus the other 40 or so who have extra children who can’t find space — how those people are going to find child care in the next two months.
plus the other 40 or so who have extra children who can’t find space, how those people are going to find child care in the next two months.
Hon. L. Reid: We continue to provide subsidies for 25,000 to 27,000 children each month to attend child care. We continue to open child care spaces across British Columbia — 6,000 new spaces. We, in fact, have doubled the number of child care spaces from 45,000 to 90,000 that we subsidize.
Are we making progress in child care as we go forward? Absolutely, we are. Will we continue to work with the centres in Whistler? Yes. Is Whistler a unique situation? Yes. One of the individuals has absolutely indicated that enrolment is actually going down in one of those centres because those children are not attending today because they’re enrolled in ski programs. So there are unique facets to this discussion that I would be happy to brief the member opposite on.
I am writing to express my concern about your offices present apparent lack of awareness towards the December 2008 UNICEF report which was mailed to you on December 10th, 2008 from Toronto.
I phoned your office seeking your response to this Innocente Report Card which is designed to monitor and compare the performance of the O.E.C.D. countries in securing the rights of their children.
It states that today’s rising generation is the first in which a majority are spending a large part of early childhood in some form of out of home care. It states the latest in neuroscientific research which demonstrates that loving, stable, secure and stimulating relationships during the early years are critical to all aspects of child development. It states that a countries response to this transition will represent an advance or a set back for today’s children and tomorrows world.
I have spoken with the Vancouver and Toronto UNICEF offices. I have been assured that without a doubt you along with 640 other leaders across the country received the shocking report.
A cover letter was attached from Nigel Fisher, the President and C.E.O. of UNICEF Canada. I have called the Toronto office again and I have been assured by Saadya Hadani that another copy of the report, has been sent to you on February 11th, 2009.
You shall agree that this matter needs attention. I shall also be writing to be Federal Government on the matter. Never the less we at the community level cannot wait on Ottawa; action is needed now to put in place a Province wide child care system which will reach the Benchmarks which we presently fail so miserably in, and which will secure quality care and education which is the entitlement of all young children re: the Rights of the Child.
I look forward to your response at your earliest convenience.
Yours truly,
Mary Dolan
cc: Minister of State for Child Care, Linda Reid; UNICEF Office Toronto, Saadya Hamdani;
Minister of Child and Family Development, Tom Christensen; B.C. Rep for Children and Youth, Mary Ellen Turpell Lafond ; Leader of the Opposition, Carole James, N.D.P; Child Care Critic for the Opposition, Claire Trevena, M.L.A; [and several others]
BY Marc Lee, a senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) BC office and David Macdonald, CCPA Alternative Federal Budget.
…. When the Prime Minister and his minority government come out of hiding to face the people, and his political opposition, they face a test of historic proportions.
Their task is to make right what they failed to do last fall: Bring in a stimulus budget that creates jobs, invests in strategic long-term initiatives and helps those who need it most.
But will Tuesday’s budget [Jan 27, 2009] meet the challenge that confronts us? Or will the opposition parties be justified in rejecting it?
We lay out five tests for Tuesday’s budget, to help Canadians and our politicians make a choice that plants the seed for a strong, prosperous and greener Canada.
Tuesday’s budget needs to do these five things:
1. Budget 2009 should help the hundreds of thousands of newly unemployed Canadians by increasing Employment Insurance (EI) benefits from 55 per cent to 60 per cent of insured earnings and extending the period for receiving those benefits to 50 weeks.
2. Budget 2009 should support the hardest hit Canadians, such as unemployed, low-income Canadians, and hard hit communities by making a commitment to reduce poverty in Canada by 25 per cent in the next five years.
3. Budget 2009 should implement an ambitious social, physical and green public infrastructure program — a measure that could create hundreds of thousands of new jobs just when we need them.
4. Budget 2009 should support key value-added sectors with restructuring criteria to ensure they become green and sustainable. It’s about keeping the lights on in key sectors in the short term, but re-orienting those sectors so they can come out stronger and more responsive to the demands of the day in the long term.
5. Finally, Budget 2009 should emphasize spending over tax cuts.
There is growing consensus on a number of these tests.
EI is the federal government’s most important automatic stabilizer and most agree it has been greatly weakened and must be reinforced to face rising unemployment.
Most agree on infrastructure investment as a good means of stimulating the economy and creating jobs. But the kind of infrastructure we invest in and the type of jobs we create are important to consider.
…. On the infrastructure file, this means major investments in green projects — public transit, renewable energy — that reduce Canada’s carbon footprint and plant the seeds for a sustainable economy.
However, infrastructure isn’t just about roads and bridges: it’s also about investing in social infrastructure — health care, post-secondary education, child care, and social housing — to ensure balanced job creation between male- and female-dominated professions and the expansion of public programs to all Canadians.
The Prime Minister has talked about Canada’s middle class, and how they need tax cuts in the upcoming stimulus budget. But we will get better bang for the buck if we deliver money into the hands of those who will spend it right away, particularly those with lower incomes.
The majority of Canadians, especially the middle class, benefit more from public services such as good education, health care, and affordable child care than they have from years of federal tax cuts. That’s where the investments need to be in Budget 2009….
They need to face reality: research shows that tax cuts end up in savings or get used to pay down household debt. Those dollars don’t end up in the economy where they are desperately needed….
…children should not be treated like commodities. “It is appalling that an essential service such as childcare has been placed in the same category as shopping for household goods, merely in an attempt to encourage parents to enrol their children back into ABC Learning centres.”
UNICEF Canada calls for measurable standards, guidelines, appropriate funding for child care, and solutions by July 2009
Toronto, 11 December 2008 – A new study released by UNICEF states that a far-reaching change is overtaking childhood in the world’s richest countries, including in Canada. For the first time in the history of the industrialized world, a majority of the rising generation is now spending a significant part of childhood in out-of-home child care.
The Child Care Transition is the 8th annual report cardproduced by the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre in Florence, Italy. According to the report card, this child care revolution offers enormous potential for children, society and the economy, if sufficient supportive policies and programmes are in place.
The report card states that these changes reflect new opportunities for women’s employment outside the home. But in part, also, they reflect new necessities. And the poorer the family, the greater is the pressure to return to work as soon as possible after a birth – often to unskilled, low-paid jobs.
“High quality early childhood education and care has a huge potential to enhance children’s cognitive, linguistic, emotional and social development,” says Marta Santos Pais, Director of the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre (IRC). “It can help boost educational achievement, limit the early establishment of disadvantage, promote inclusion, be an investment in good citizenship, and advance progress for women.”
The UNICEF report card proposes 10 benchmarks to compare the early childhood policies of the 25 most affluent countries in the world, and these benchmarks should be regarded as a first step toward establishing a set of minimum standards to facilitate good early childhood outcomes. According to the report, Sweden meets all 10 benchmarks, Norway eight, Austria five, Italy and Japan four. Ireland and Canada meet only one benchmark.
Equity and quality services required
Although there is progress in many parts of Canada, Nigel Fisher, President and CEO of UNICEF Canada states that “greater equity in the provision and monitoring of quality services would give all Canadian children the chance for the best possible start in life.”
And, considering current evidence from neuroscience on how important the first months and years of care are to human development, and the evidence of what works in early childhood policy and programming across the industrialized world, “it is clear that underinvestment limits the potential to ensure that the childcare transition is good for our children,” says Fisher.
In addition, investing in early child care and education is a key strategy to respond to current economic challenges, and promote economic stimulus and recovery. Early childhood care and education is an investment not only in the development of children, but economists agree that the social and economic benefits include a more competitive workforce, higher tax revenues, lower social programme costs down the road, and economic returns to the GDP in excess of the dollars invested.
“For all these reasons, UNICEF Canada strongly supports the recommendation of the Senate of Canada Standing Committee on Human Rights,” reaffirms Fisher. “The federal government must take the lead in developing a coordinated approach to the establishment of measurable standards, guidelines and funding for child care, with solutions presented to the public by July 2009.”
“Canada can ensure that this major social and economic transition – which is here to stay – has positive outcomes for the rising generation and that investment in these services achieves the intended results,” he adds while recognizing that the federal government’s pledge to extend parental leave benefits to the self-employed is a welcome step in that direction.
“This report clearly shows that quality child care and educational services with strong family supports, such as effective parental leave, are crucial to both our children’s and our nation’s potential,” concludes the President and CEO of UNICEF Canada.
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Related articles
Canada ties for last among developed countries when it comes to child supports December 10, 2008
Canadian Press
TORONTO — Canada fails to meet nine of out 10 proposed standards aimed at ensuring children get the best start in life through education and support programs, tying for last place among affluent countries, an analysis released Wednesday by UNICEF concludes.
The UNICEF benchmarks are crucial for children in their formative years, says the United Nations organization.
“We over-invest in remedial action down the line when kids reach their teen years and under-invest in the early years when their behaviour, their comportment, their learning can really be set for the rest of their lives,” said Nigel Fisher, head of UNICEF Canada.
The benchmarks, which UNICEF calls practical and reachable, include providing a year of parental leave at 50 per cent or more of salary and spending one per cent of gross domestic product on childhood services.
Sweden was the only country to meet all 10 standards and Iceland met nine among the 24 members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Slovenia, which scored six out of 10, was the only non-OECD country assessed.
At the bottom, Canada and Ireland were found to reach only one benchmark: half of staff in accredited early-education services have proper post-secondary qualifications. The United States met three.
Martha Friendly, director of the Toronto-based Childcare Resource and Research Unit, said Canada’s poor showing came as no surprise.
“The child-care transition . . . is being facilitated by public policies in most countries,” Friendly said.
“In Canada, this has been left to be a private family responsibility. We have very weak public policy and that would be at the national level and at the level of most of the provinces.”
Friendly said the federal government needs to send an “emergency signal” showing it considers the issue important by making commitments in its budget next month.
The UNICEF report argues that many OECD countries need to almost double current levels of expenditure on early childhood services to meet minimum acceptable standards.
Canada, for example, spends roughly 0.2 per cent of its GDP on child supports, Fisher said.
The report notes that most children in the developed world are spending their earliest years in some form of care outside the home.
About 80 per cent of children aged three to six are in some form of early childhood education and care outside the home.
About one in four under the age of three are also cared for outside the home – with the proportion rising to one in two in some countries.
“What we are now witnessing across the industrialized world can fairly be described as a revolution in how the majority of young children are being brought up,” the report states.
“To the extent that this change is unplanned and unmonitored, it could also be described as a high-stakes gamble with today’s children and tomorrow’s world.”
The report emphasizes advances in recent years in scientific research show the long-term importance of giving kids a good educational and emotional start in life – something especially key for marginalized or otherwise disadvantaged children.
UNICEF proposed benchmarks and rankings for early child care
UNICEF has issued a report ranking 25 countries against 10 proposed benchmarks when it comes to early childhood services.
Among proposed minimum standards:
Entitlement to paid parental leave of at least one year at 50 per cent of salary
A national plan with priority for disadvantaged children
Subsidized and regulated child care for 25 per cent of children under three
Subsidized and regulated child care for 80 per cent of children aged four
Accredited training for 80 per cent of child-care staff
Staff-to-children ratio of 1:15 in groups of under 25
Public funding for children under six of one per cent of GDP
Top five and bottom five affluent countries in terms of meeting early child-support standards:
Sweden: 10
Iceland: 9
Denmark: 8
Finland: 8
France: 8
Switzerland: 3
United States: 3
Australia: 2
Canada: 1
Ireland: 1
SOURCE: UNICEF
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The real child-care challenge
Winnipeg Free Press
14 Dec 2008
By: Susan Prentice, associate professor of sociology at the University of Manitoba
A newly released report from UNICEF provides important information for Manitobans and should prompt immediate action.
The study, The Child Care Transition, finds that children of the world’s most affluent countries spend a large part of their early childhood in some form of child care — but the child care they are in does not always meet best practices. Nevertheless, child care is a fact of life for most children. “Preschool enrolments,” says the U.S. National Research Council, “are large, growing, and here to stay.”
Some commentators worry about this new reality, but for the wrong reasons. Rebecca Walberg recently argued against daycare, critiquing Quebec’s generous innovations (For the Sake of the Children, Winnipeg Free Press Dec. 7). She and others who oppose universal child care and education are in the minority and are missing the real focus
Social scientists, development psychologists, health researchers and educators embrace the idea that good-quality child care supports children’s development. In their exhaustive report, From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development, eminent researchers at the American Academy of Science conclude that “the positive relation between child-care quality and virtually every facet of children’s development that has been studied is one of the most consistent findings in developmental science.”
High-quality care “is associated with outcomes that all parents want to see in their children, ranging from co-operation with adults to the agility to initiate and sustain positive exchanges with peers, to early competence in math and reading.”
In addition, child care is essential for reducing family poverty because it permits parents to participate in training, education and employment. Dependable care is essential for mothers who need or want to take a paid job, develop job skills, or go back to school.
Without affordable, reliable childcare, women may be forced to stay out of the labour force, to work at poorly paid part-time employment, or be stuck in dead-end jobs. Some women — especially single mothers — are forced to depend on social assistance or may fall into poverty.
Reliable child care helps all parents balance work and family responsibilities. Even affluent families struggle to balance jobs and families, and early-childhood education programs are one remedy for reducing family stress. In the 21st century, as families move across countries and around the globe, extended kin networks may no longer be available for caregiving. Child care is one way to build new family supports, a followup to paid parental leaves that allow new parents to spend time with very young children.
Economic realities also play a role in why Manitobans, like all Canadians, need highquality and universally accessible child care. In the immediate term, employers lose time and productivity to work-family conflict. The Conference Board of Canada estimates that such conflict costs Canadian businesses at least $2.7 billion each year.
The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce has identified labour issues as the biggest constraint to economic growth. It has cited retention, training and succession planning as key concerns for employers. Child care can help business meet these challenges.
Child care is a green and labour-intensive service, providing sustainable jobs. New Manitoba research estimates that every $1 invested in child care generates $1.58 of economic activity.
Economists like Nobel Prize winner James Heckman have shown that investment in early childhood brings proven benefits to children, families, governments and national economies.
The key to positive gains is the quality of children’s experiences. The UNICEF report assesses the world’s 25 most developed countries against 10 benchmarks for quality and excellence. Sadly, Canada ties for last place, meeting just one of the 10 recommended standards.
Policy-makers must immediately re-examine the current policy architecture, which devotes too few resources and allocates them ineffectively. Manitoba can learn much from Quebec, which meets six of the 10 benchmarks. Quebec has expanded access, reduced parent fees (to $7 a day) and increased staff training and remuneration.
The current economic recession provides compelling reasons to make improvements now, rather than wait. Heckman explains why: Investing in young children “is a rare public policy initiative that promotes fairness and social justice and at the same time promotes productivity in the economy and in society at large.”
For the sake of our children and families, Manitoba urgently needs an excellent, high quality early-childhood care and education system.
