CHILDCARE giant ABC Learning Centres has set up a Canadian company despite claiming it has no immediate plans to expand there.
ABC Canadian Holdings was established this August and its directors include ABC Learning co-founder Eddy Groves, owner of basketball’s Brisbane Bullets.
The giant childcare company – which has more than 2200 centres in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and US – is Canadian Holdings’ sole shareholder.
“It is a dormant company with no assets and no trading,” ABC’s spokesman said yesterday.
He declined to comment on why it was created. But he repeated comments in The Courier-Mail yesterday – ABC had no plans for operations outside its current four countries “in the near future”.
The revelations come as Canadian organisations protest against a private childcare push linked to Australians.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees said it would be “fighting the
sell-off of childcare and the expansion of privatisation of childcare
services”.
The Toronto Star had reported ABC was eyeing Canada via Ontario-based 123 Busy Beavers Learning Centres. But ABC has said 123 companies were separate businesses. 123 Busy Beavers lists Don Jones and Graeme Wilkie as executives.
They share the same names as directors of privately owned and Brisbane-based Busy Beavers Investments.
That business’s Murarrie address is the same as some ABC Childcare Centres. It also was ABC’s former registered office.
Mr Jones is also a director of 123 Global companies. 123 Global says it
provides “state-of-the-art childcare facilities” with ABC and Busy Beavers being key clients.
ABC and 123 Busy Beavers share other links.
Its national operations manager is Marnie Testa, who is understood to have worked for ABC until last year….
A large, international child care corporation appears to be behind an attempt to introduce big-box style facilities to Calgary’s day-care industry. …
At least one large provider in Calgary is believed to have sold some or all of its facilities, effective Nov. 1, to a company called 123 Busy Beavers Learning Centres, according to several sources.
Other local operators said they have been approached, but declined to comment further.
Busy Beavers has been linked by at least two media outlets to Australian-based ABC Learning Centres, which owns 2,200 centres in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States and is the largest child care provider in its home country. …
On Tuesday, ABC officials in Australia denied they had ambitions to expand into Canada, according to the Brisbane Courier-Mail.
ABC is now second-largest child care provider in the United States, according to a profile compiled by not-for-profit child care advocates in Australia and Ontario, and distributed here by the Edmonton-based Public Interest Alberta.
“What we have seen in the past is when these larger corporations come in to a community, they will often buy up enough to allow them control of the market,” said Bill Kilgannon of Public Interest. “Once they have control, they will wield influence on child care policy.”
When ABC started operating in Australia, about 70 per cent of child care centres were non-profit. Now, more than 70 per cent are commercially operated, according to Public Interest.
Phone calls to Busy Beavers requesting an interview were not returned, but when asked if the company was moving into Edmonton and Calgary, the call taker on the company’s information line said, “I know Calgary, for sure.” ….
A report released in 2006 by the Australian Institute, a think-tank, concluded there were “a number of systemic barriers to provision of high-quality care at ABC Learning Centres.”
It said the centres’ food budgets were low and cooks poorly paid, leading to poorer quality food for children than provided by non-profit centres. …
In Alberta, accredited private operators are able to access a subsidy for staff wages worth up to $4.14 per hour.
About 65 per cent of the province’s day-care facilities are owned privately, and 35 per cent are non-profit.
“Our role is to ensure any new owner coming in meets the standards,” said Jody Korchinski, spokeswoman for Alberta Children’s Services.
In Ontario, where 78 per cent of the industry is run by non-profit organizations, the government appears to be less receptive to commercialization of day-care facilities.
“Our focus is on quality, not quantity,” said Tricia Edgar, spokeswoman for Ontario’s Ministry of Children and Youth Services.
Big box child care could be coming to BC if an Australian company gets its way. 123 Global has been approaching community based programs across the province.
Child care programs in Alberta and Ontario have also been contacted despite concerns from child care advocates who say they don’t want to see BC’s daycares turned into foreign-owned, big box warehouses.
123 Global has received flack from several countries for monopolizing child care and providing minimal services to cut costs.
Susan Harney owns a daycare herself, and says despite a shortage of facilities, this isn’t the answer. She says we need to solve the crisis of not enough affordable spaces for families but bringing in this kind of “warehouse child care” is not the answer.
But for parents desperate to find a place for their kids, at a price they can afford, a new option might just be what they’re looking for.
The Toronto Star
Letters — re: ‘Big-box’ daycare coming to Canada
Two years ago, an Australian child-care expert came to Canada to warn us about big-box centres, based on that country’s experience with corporate child care. Australia’s situation is characterized by parents paying high fees of $500 per week, poor access if you live outside of big cities or have children with additional needs, and constant pressure by corporate child-care providers to lower standards. Is this what we want for Canada’s children?
We do have a remedy on the horizon in Bill C-303: the Early Learning and Child Care Act. This legislation, which is slated for third reading this fall, would only permit the non-profit sector to expand – stopping big-box corporate child care in its tracks.
If this legislation doesn’t pass, we will be stuck with child care that is characterized by high fees, inaccessibility and poor quality. And shareholders will be making huge profits from our tax dollars.
Elizabeth Ablett, Executive Director, Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, Toronto
—–
Your important article on big-box daycare quotes a spokesperson for Ontario’s Ministry of Children and Youth Services as saying there will be no capital grants for for-profit centres. Unfortunately, this completely misses the point. The main issue is not capital grants, but operating and parent fee subsidies for child-care spaces.
The business of ABC Learning Centres is not early childhood learning; it is subsidy harvesting. This multinational corporation is after the steady stream of profit that comes from the difference between the cost of offering low- quality services and the amount of the ongoing government subsidy.
If the Ontario government hopes to prevent Big Box child care from taking over the province’s child care system, it must end operating subsidies to commercial child-care services, with grandparenting for existing owner-delivered services.
Barbara Cameron, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, York University, Toronto
—–
If big chains get a larger foothold in our city, we will inevitably be pressed to lower quality standards and reduce the already low salaries and benefits for child-care staff. Recent revelations about inferior care in the predominantly for-profit nursing-home sector in Ontario should serve as a wake- up call when it comes to child care.
In Toronto, we have grandparented existing commercial child care and will only expand in the public and non-profit sectors. The province should require all municipalities to do the same. However, the policy must be supported by new funding to encourage development of non-profit child care.
Janet Davis, Councillor, Beaches-East York, Toronto
—–
It is a well-known fact that staff costs represent 80 to 85 per cent of running a child-care centre. The other 15 to 20 per cent is used for food, supplies, rent and equipment. So where can the profit be made? It can only occur if operators drive down wages or drive up fees.
The Ontario government can change the law to prohibit future licensing of commercial child-care operations. Legislative change takes time, but for now, the government can place a moratorium on issuing new licences.
Sue Colley, Toronto
—–
It is common business knowledge that everything has a price, yet it is shocking to know that our children are now for sale. Daycare in Ontario is going private, and who is going to benefit? It certainly won’t be the children, if the goal is profit over care and quality. Big-box stores are great for everything from clothing to lumber, yet children must not be part of this philosophy.
Vancouver – The British Columbia Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU/NUPGE) has expressed concern that an Australian-based multinational company is trying to corner the market on child care in the province with an offer to buy for-profit child care centres.
Last week the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C. (CCCABC) released information showing that 123-Global is making offers to private operators across the province.
The company is a Canadian subsidiary of A.B.C. Learning Centres, an Australian-based firm that has bought up and now operates child care centres in Australia, U.S., Britain, Hong Kong, Indonesia and other countries. The parent firm earned profits of $123 million Cdn ($143 million Australian) last year and, in the space of one year, purchased 1,100 child care centres in the U.S. It does not currently operate any centres in British Columbia.
Serious questions
“This raises a number of questions. Where is the provincial government headed with its child care policies and are they in conversations with private corporations that would encourage this expansion?” the BCGEU asks.
“The government has pledged ongoing support for families and child care advocates have long argued that public, non-profit child care is the best guarantee for quality, and have urged the provincial government to expand this system.”
Controversial big-box child-care could be a reality in B.C. if an Australian company has its way.
Child-care advocates are sounding the alarm since learning an investment firm called Adroit Investments LLC has contacted local child-care operators in a bid to buy them out.
The Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C. traced the company back to 123-Global and A.B.C. Learning Centres, a private Australian child-care corporation that’s gotten flak in several countries for monopolizing child-care and providing minimal services to cut costs.
Rita Chudnovsky, the coalition’s spokesperson, says that the company has now set its sights on B.C.
“This is not the kind of child care we need,” she said. “Everywhere [A.B.C.] has gone, it’s raised parent fees and left communities with specific needs underserved. They only care about the bottom-line. Our children shouldn’t be used to generate profits.”
Chudnovsky says child-care operators began receiving takeover bids in mid-September, just before the provincial government announced it would begin to subsidize private child-care providers.
“We have trouble believing this is a coincidence,” she said. “We’re still waiting for the government to respond.”
Meanwhile, some child-care providers approached by Adroit wonder if they will be able to compete.
“We’ve known about them for years,” said Susan Harney, operator of Country Grove Children’s Centre in Langley. “They build up what they call critical mass and put other programs out of business.”
Harney has already rejected Adroit’s advances and wants others to do the same. “Our child-care system is not for sale,” she said. “The focus needs to be on providing good service, not making a profit.”
A phone call to 123-Global was not returned by press time.
CHILDCARE giant ABC Learning Centres yesterday distanced itself from Canadian media reports that it was eyeing expansion in that country.
This came as it emerged a series of international businesses linked to ABC, which caters for children aged from infants to schoolgoers, have been established….
The businesses, registered this year, were 123 Global Holdings with different organisations named for regions including Australasia, China, Europe, North America and Japan.
The Toronto Star reported ABC was eyeing Canada through a business it named as Ontario-based 123 Busy Beavers Learning Centres.
Letters were sent out in September asking daycare operators if they wanted to sell, The Star reported. The letter read: “We represent a large financial/childcare group purchasing childcare centres across Ontario”.
But ABC yesterday said the 123 companies were separate businesses.
“ABC Learning has no plans for operations in any country in the near future outside of Australia, New Zealand, the US and UK,” a spokesman said….
It describes ABC as a “key client” in Australia, as were two ABC subsidiaries in the UK and US….
Citigroup analysts last year pointed out Mr Jones was a director of ABC Acquisitions, which co-ordinates centre developers and sellers for ABC Learning Centres.
While then based at the same address as ABC Learning Centres, it was designated a separate entity to the ABC group and listed only two shareholders – Mr Jones and a Heather Jones….
VANCOUVER – The BC government should act quickly to block any provincial funding that might subsidize a foreign-based corporation attempting to buy up community-based child care providers across BC, says the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC.
The call comes after the Coalition released information Friday showing that a foreign-based multinational corporation is sending letters offering to purchase private child care centres across BC. Since then the Toronto Star newspaper has reported that child care centre owners in Ontario and Alberta are also being approached to sell their operations.
“BC child care is not for sale and taxpayers should not be subsidizing the buy out of community-based child care centres or the profits of a foreign-based multinational corporation,” says Coalition spokesperson Rita Chudnovsky. “Public money should be used to expand non-profit quality child care centres, not see BC child care turned into a foreign-owned, big-box warehouse business.”
Chudnovsky said the provincial government needs to move quickly to ensure that BC community-based child care centres are not swallowed up by ABC Learning Centres of Australia, whose corporate partner 123-Global is making the purchase offers.
Coalition chair Susan Harney, who owns a child care centre, said government has no time to waste if it wants to preserve community-based child care. She contacted 123-Global last week and learned that a buyout of her centre could be completed in as little as three weeks.
“The provincial government needs to be clear right now that it will not let public money facilitate the takeover of BC-owned child care centres or subsidize profits resulting from the sale of those centres to a foreign-based corporation,” Harney said. “This is happening right now and the government has to take action or we will lose any local accountability for child care in this province.”
The buyout move could impact over 24,000 children in BC who attend privately-owned child care centres – about half the centre-based child care spaces in the whole province, Harney said.
The Coalition is also deeply concerned about the track record of ABC Learning Centres and 123-Global, which describes itself as a “growth engine” for ABC and a partner to corporate child care operations in the United States, Britain, Japan and China, says Coalition board member Mab Oloman.
“ABC Learning Centres in Australia has garnered a lot of media coverage over child care quality issues but one thing is clear – they make enormous profits,” Oloman said. “BC taxpayers and parents need to tell the provincial government we don’t want to subsidize the profits of any multinational child care corporation.”
Two weeks ago, we issued an Action Alert about BC’s decision to make major child care capital funding available to private companies. We predicted that this change in public policy could make BC attractive to multinational large child care chains.
Since that time – our worst fears have been confirmed. The Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC has learned that a foreign-based corporation is trying to take over community-based BC child care providers.
At a Media Conference on Friday, Oct. 19 we released information showing that 123-Global is offering to buy private child care operations across the province, and proposing a short, three week, timeline to complete a deal.
The offers come from Adroit Investments LLC, a firm which lists 123-Global on all its correspondence. 123-Global is an investment firm that is described as a “growth engine” for and partner of A.B.C. Learning Centres, an Australian-based multinational child care corporation with corporate child care operations in the United States, Britain, Japan and China.
We have posted correspondence and documents from Adroit Investments about the purchase process on our website. The Centre Information that operators must complete to get the process started paints a clear and alarming picture. While potential sellers are asked about their building, their licensed capacity, their current fees and wait lists, there is not one question about the community served, the staff who work in the program or about children with extra support needs.
That’s because foreign warehouse style child care operations care about property and profits – not about people. Their primary objective is to generate profits for their international shareholders.
We cannot help but wonder if there is a connection between this unprecedented buy out offer and the government’s decision to provide capital funds to for-profit child care in BC.
The Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC strongly believes that taxpayers should not subsidize shareholder profits. We believe that multinational companies should not get government handouts while they buy out community-based child care. Selling off our child care to foreign ownership is not the solution to BC’s child care crisis.
The solution is publicly funded, high quality community owned and controlled child care – not gigantic child care warehouse operations.
That is why the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC calls on the BC government to
assure families that BC child care will meet community not shareholder needs
assure taxpayers that public funds will go to BC children not profits.
Make your voices heard. Say NO to foreign control of community-based child care in BC.
Tell the government that BC child care is NOT FOR SALE!
Join us on Friday, Nov. 16, 7pm at SFU Harbour Centre in Vancouver, to speak out against the corporate child care take over and speak up for real solutions.
Stay tuned to this website for information and actions.
The largest daycare corporation in the world – often criticized for cutting care to raise profits – is bringing its controversial form of big-box privatized child care to Canada.
Nicknamed “Fast Eddy,” Australian-based entrepreneur Edmund Groves, who holds Canadian citizenship, is behind a move to purchase daycares in Ontario, Alberta and B.C.
Form letters, written by Texas businessmen fronting the Canadian expansion, have been arriving in the mailboxes of dozens of private daycare operators asking if they want to be evaluated with a view to selling.
It’s all part of a rapid global expansion by Groves’ ABC Learning Centres, which last year added about 1,000 U.S. centres to its empire.
“We represent a large financial/child care group purchasing child care centres across Ontario,” the letter reads. “Are you ready to see what your business is worth in today’s market? The process is simple and all information is confidential … If the centre meets our criteria we will make you an offer.”
Groves … has seen his company grow from a single centre in 1988 to a $2.2 billion (all figures in Canadian dollars) kiddie care kingdom operating 2,400 daycares on three continents. …
The Ontario day care market is a big target. There are 4,400 licensed daycares, with about one-quarter of them for-profit centres. The letters from the Texans say only for-profit daycares are of interest.
Groves’ meteoric rise has drawn criticism from numerous corners.
The Sydney Morning Herald published a story about Groves with the headline: “Cradle Snatcher.” Last year, Labour MP Michael Danby attacked Groves in federal parliament, saying the daycare king has become rich by “milking government (child care) subsidies.”
In a 2006 report by the Australian Institute, a respected Australian think- tank, researchers said poor food quality and cost-cutting have compromised quality even as ABC has amassed a fortune from public child care subsidies given to parents.
The report was based on a survey of employees at daycares across Australia. The report singled out ABC, saying that despite an estimated $172 million in government subsidies, the daycare giant fell short in most areas of quality care when compared to community based, non-profit centres.
The report said the chain did not always serve nutritious food (one staffer interviewed called the food “atrocious”); did not always provide enough quality toys and equipment (toys often have to be purchased from an ABC-owned company); and hired only the minimum number of staff required by law. It notes daycare teachers “are required to do all the cleaning themselves as well as care for the children.”
The Star tried to interview Groves for this story but a spokesman declined. However, Groves recently told Forbes Asia that criticism of him was unfounded. His corporate website says ABC has “made high quality early childhood education programs available to all families. It’s our love for all children that has ensured our tireless commitment to providing them with the best possible start.”
Daycare leaders in Ontario are worried that Groves’ approach will harm an already beleaguered daycare system. A recent Star investigation showed lax Ontario government regulation; a shortage of public money for child care spaces; and a growing illegal daycare industry.
Ontario’s Ministry of Children and Youth Services isn’t rolling out the red carpet for big corporate daycare.
“We’re not in favour of commercialized, big box child care,” said ministry spokesperson Tricia Edgar.
“We don’t have a mechanism outlawing them. But no capital grants will be provided to for-profit centres. We favour accessible, affordable, quality child care.”…
On the other side of the debate, experts say ABC could lead to the “Wal- Martization” of daycare in Canada, cause more for-profit centres to be opened at the expense of non-profits, and may kill any hope for a publicly funded non- profit system.
“This puts us in another realm ” says Martha Friendly, a child care researcher in Toronto. “I don’t believe anyone here has ever thought of child care as a huge, money-making corporate system that removes it from the community and parent level.”
Andrea Calver, spokesperson for the Ontario Coalition For Better Child Care, agrees….
Groves, a Canadian expatriate, is one of Australia’s richest people… with a personal fortune of nearly $259 million.
The ABC chain generated operating profits of more than $70 million last year alone, up 149.9 per cent over the previous year.
In a few short years ABC has become one of the biggest child care providers in the U.S. and the U.K. in addition to Australia and New Zealand. Between 2004 and 2006, his centres have grown from about 23,000 child care spots to more than 112,000.
Canadian expansion plans are moving quickly, and quietly. Over the past four months, 123 Busy Beavers Learning Centres Inc., based in Oakville, have registered in Ontario, Alberta and B.C. The Canadian firm is a partner of 123 Global, an Australian firm that describes itself as ABC’s “growth engine.”
Letters asking daycare operators if they want to sell went out in September to centres ….
The approach comes from Adroit Investments, a U.S. mergers and acquisitions firm contracted by 123 Busy Beavers. Leslie Wulf, the Texas-based Adroit manager who signed the letters, referred the Star’s questions to 123 Busy Beavers executive Graeme Wilkie in Oakville. Wilkie did not respond to a request for an interview.
VANCOUVER – The Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC warned today that a foreign-based corporation is trying to buy up community-based British Columbia child care providers right across the province.
And the Coalition is asking if a BC government decision to for the first time provide capital funds to for-profit child care businesses is connected to the foreign takeover.
Coalition representative Rita Chudnovsky says information released today by the Coalition shows that 123-Global is sending offers to buy private operators across the province, with a timeline of as short as three weeks to complete the deal.
123-Global is an investment firm that is described as a “growth engine” for and partner of A.B.C. Learning Centres, an Australian-based multinational child care corporation. 123-Global is also a partner of corporate child care operations in the United States, Britain, Japan and China, she said.
The buyout move could impact over 24,000 children in BC who are attending for-profit child care facilities – about half the child care spaces in the whole province, Chudnovsky said.
“We are deeply concerned that community-based child care providers throughout BC are being bought out by a foreign multinational corporation,” Chudnovsky said. “What we need in BC are more publicly-funded non-profit quality child care centres, not some gigantic child care warehouse operation.”
Chudnovsky says the buyout offers started in mid-September, just two weeks before the BC government announced a $12.5 million capital fund to create new child care spaces that will be available to for-profit operations.
“We want to know if there is a connection between an unprecedented buyout offer to all BC private child care operators and the government offering to subsidize for-profit child care operators,” Chudnovsky said. “We do not believe for-profit companies should have their revenue subsidized by taxpayers and we certainly do not want highly profitable multinational corporations getting government handouts while they takeover community-based childcare.”
Lower Mainland child care operator Susan Harney said she received a buyout offer this week from Adroit Investments LLC, a firm which lists 123-Global on all its correspondence.
“The buyout of my child care centre could be completed in as little as three weeks I was told,” Harney said. “Adroit Investments sent me purchase information forms and a non-disclosure agreement by email immediately after I was in contact with them – it was rather shocking.”
Harney, a Coalition member, said she is worried that small, independent community-based child care centres could be taken over by a foreign company that has profits as its primary concern.
“I operate a child care centre because I love kids and enjoy taking care of them,” Harney said. “I am concerned that a company based in Australia that reports record profits every year wants to become the dominant child care provider in BC and one that will have no connection to our community and no local accountability.”
First Call’s fundraising dinner recognized community leaders who have “Stood Up” for children and youth, including the Child Care: Let’s Make it Happen Initiative – BC Government and Service Employees’ Union and the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC; and Mary Dolan of Growing Together Childcare in the Cowichan Valley.
Adrienne Montani (far left) & Michael Goldberg (far right) of First Call with representatives from CCCABC and the BCGEU, receiving the award for the Child Care: Let’s Make It Happen initiative.
Adrienne Montani (far left) and Michael Goldberg (far right) of First Call present an award to Mary Dolan (centre).
OTTAWA, Oct. 16 /CNW Telbec/ – It is news to Canadian families that Stephen Harper’s government has delivered on child care, say child care advocates responding to tonight’s Throne Speech.
“Any parent knows that a $100 monthly voucher doesn’t create child care and without child care there is no choice,” says Morna Ballantyne of the advocacy group Code Blue for Child Care. “Harper’s claim is particularly misleading given that the Tories have not delivered a single one of the 125,000 child care spaces they promised.”
The Throne Speech signals the Tories’ intention to strip Government of the legislative and financial leavers to protect and expand social programs. “Redirected to child care the proposed 1% cut to the GST would provide every child in Canada between 3 and 6 with a full time child care space,” said Ballantyne.
Harper’s plan to legislate limits to the federal spending power demonstrates his continued hostility to social programs; a hostility he championed as head of the National Citizen’s Coalition and demonstrated when in his first act as Prime Minister he cancelled the child care plan negotiated with the provinces,” said Ballantyne. “The federal spending power is the Constitutional mechanism that gave us Medicare. It is the only tool the Government of Canada has to launch a pan-Canadian child care program.”
The Tories are misusing Quebecers’ desire to control their own social institutions to cover their actions, says Jody Dallaire, Chairperson of the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada. “But Parliament has all the practical tools it requires to both protect and expand social programs while respecting Quebec’s distinct status.”
Bill 303, The Early Learning and Child Care Act, scheduled before Parliament this session does just that. It places conditions on provinces and territories that receive federal funding for child care but it also explicitly recognizes Quebec’s right to set its own standards. “Quebec’s needs can be addressed without imposing on all Canadians a measure that makes sense only for Quebec,” says Dallaire.
Ottawa last used its spending power for child care in 2005 when the then Liberal government signed bi-lateral agreements with the provinces on condition they report regularly and direct the money to regulated child care services. “Ottawa’s ability to set conditions on the funding it makes available for social programs ensures that Canadians from coast to coast to coast enjoy the same fundamental social rights,” said Dallaire.
Related article:
The Throne Speech is most notable for not saying anything on the issues which are important to working families.
This speech was not about moving us all forward as a people. It was about moving people out of the way so big business can do its own thing. Clearly the government has no intention of addressing the priorities of Canadian working families. The promises are renewed to provide businesses with new gifts of tax cuts.
But there is nothing for parents with young children looking for child care spaces and no mention of early learning programs for children.
OTTAWA, Oct. 14 /CNW Telbec/ – Child care advocates will be closely monitoring Tuesday’s Speech from the Throne to see if Stephen Harper allies with Gilles Duceppe to limit the federal spending power. The federal spendingpower is the only available tool the Government of Canada has to launch apan-Canadian child care program.
“This constitutional provision is the mechanism that gave us Medicare,”says Morna Ballantyne of the national advocacy group Code Blue for Child Care.
“Ottawa’s ability to set conditions on the funding it makes available for social programs ensures that Canadians from coast to coast to coast enjoy the same fundamental social rights.”
Child care advocates respect the desire of Quebecers to control their own social institutions as a means of protecting their distinct culture,” says
Ballantyne. “But Quebec’s needs can be addressed without imposing on all Canadians a measure that makes sense only for Quebec.”
Bill 303, The Early Learning and Child Care Act, scheduled before Parliament this session does just that. It places conditions on provinces and territories in receipt of federal funding for child care but allows Quebec to set its own standards.
Related articles
Analysis: Scoring the Tories on the April 2006 Throne Speech
Oct. 14 2007 12:19 PM ET
By: Parminder Parmar, CTV.ca News
On October 16th, the horse-drawn carriage of the Governor General will once again descend upon Parliament Hill for the throne speech. Just more than 18 months after the last throne speech, Members of Parliament will again follow the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod to the Senate chambers to hear the Conservative Party’s agenda for what will likely be the remainder of its term…..
Care for kids
While the Harper government’s rhetoric on crime may play well to public opinion, the same can’t categorically be said about its child care policies.
The Harper government outraged some child care advocates when it made an abrupt policy change to a Liberal plan that would have worked with provinces to create a national day care program.
Instead, the Tories promised in their throne speech that they would give individual families a choice when it comes to providing day care services for their children. Last summer, they delivered on a campaign promise to give families $1,200-a-year payments for every child under six.
“Did (Harper) do what he said he was going to do? Yes, he cancelled the national child care plan,” says Elizabeth Ablett, the Executive Director of the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care. “Did this help? $1,200 hasn’t created a single child care space.”
Ablett welcomes the additional money to help families, but she says it’s a far cry from what’s needed, which is a national child care program.
But de Clercy says when it comes to following through on their day care priority, the Harper government can claim victory. She says the Tories, along with bureaucrats, did a good job of getting their new program up and running in an effective manner.
But she cautions, the strong criticism about the limits of the Harper day care strategy may mean that this is one issue that is almost guaranteed to be revisited in the next election campaign.
A potential election in the near future will no doubt drive what’s in Stephen Harper’s second throne speech. The successful implementation of promises in last year’s speech may give the Tories some confidence. But analysts say they’ll need to present a more substantial agenda this time.
The flip-side of a tightly-crafted throne speech, says de Clercy, is that critics can claim that the Tories “have run out of ideas” and start asking “now what?”
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Child Advocacy Group Watching Throne Speech
October 14, 2007
CityNews.ca Staff
Political tongues are wagging in advance of Tuesday’s Throne Speech. Prime Minister Stephen Harper will reconvene Parliament with an outline of his upcoming plans. Harper has said that every piece of legislation proposed in the speech will be subject to a confidence vote. There is wide speculation of a fall election, countered with promises of other parties “propping up” the minority Conservative government.
Gilles Duceppe, leader of the Bloc Quebecois, has outlined five non-negotiable conditions for his party’s unconditional support.
One of these conditions has child care advocates up in arms. Duceppe fully supports a limit on federal spending power. For provincially-run programs – like child care – to get a slice of Ottawa’s money, they must adhere to national standards. Duceppe argues that this compromises Quebec’s distinct identity.
Morna Ballantyne is the co-ordinator of Code Blue For Child Care, a national advocacy group. She supports federal spending power, as “this constitutional provision is the mechanism that gave us Medicare.” She continues, “Quebec’s needs can be addressed without imposing on all Canadians a measure that makes sense only for Quebec.”
In 2005, the Liberal government signed child-care agreements with the province. The catch? Provinces had to report regularly and direct the money to regulated services. This program was cut after the Conservative government came to power.
Of course, the speech isn’t till Tuesday. Ballantyne and other child care advocates are ready, and watching.
The 2007 UBCM Convention will be held in Vancouver, BC from September 24-28.
General info:
“ … The UBCM was formed to provide a common voice for local government… Convention continues to be the main forum for UBCM policy-making. It provides an opportunity for local governments of all sizes and from all areas of the province to come together, share their experiences and take a united position… Positions developed by members are carried to other orders of government and other organizations involved in local affairs.”
OTTAWA – Effective today, the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) is being forced to close its office, lay off its staff, and cease major consultations and advocacy on women’s legal issues as an outcome of the Harper government’s devastating changes to the mandate of Status of Women Canada. This closure is a grave blow to the continuing struggle for women’s equality…
NAWL has identified many issues on its law reform agenda that need to be addressed in order to ensure real equality for women. These include working to achieve proactive pay equity legislation, improved maternity and parental benefits, funding for universally accessible child care and early learning initiatives, funding for civil legal aid, reform of the Divorce Act, family reunification for domestic workers, equality rights for lesbian mothers, improved living conditions and respect for the matrimonial property rights of Aboriginal women living on reserves, improvements to the Canadian Human Rights Act and equality in the workplace and in the family….
Related articles
Women’s group closes after losing its funding; Opposition MPs say Harper government ‘turning back clock’
The Toronto Star
September 21, 2007
By: Les Whittington
Women’s rights advocates accused the Harper government of ignoring their struggle for equality after a leading women’s group closed its doors because of a lack of federal funding.
Supported by opposition MPs, the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) vowed yesterday to use volunteers to keep up its efforts to combat violence against women, improve living conditions for those on low incomes, achieve pay equity, obtain funding for universal child care and other causes.
NAWL lost its funding of $300,000 a year after government spending cuts announced last fall. Despite a $13 billion budget surplus, the government slashed outlays for women’s advocacy projects and eliminated the Court Challenges Program, which funded legal actions by rights advocates. The Tories said Status of Women Canada would no longer fund organizations pressing policymakers to improve conditions for women.
“The Harper government is trying to silence women’s groups who speak out against its right-wing agenda,” NAWL board member Pamela Cross said. “These are ideologically driven cuts that demonstrate a defective concept of women’s equality and democracy.”
Opposition MPs denounced the moves by the Harper government.
“Women are being silenced in Canada,” Liberal MP Maria Minna (Beaches-East York) told the NAWL press conference. “How can we … say we are promoting rights for women in Afghanistan when our government is forcing women’s organizations to close?”
New Democrat MP Irene Mathyssen said “the closure of NAWL will turn back the clock on women’s equality in Canada.”
NAWL, a non-profit legal reform organization set up in 1974, has, among other things, worked to strengthen laws dealing with rape, improve family law and ensure women’s equality was specifically included in the Charter of Rights. Cross said the group will continue by using volunteers, but that its effectiveness as a resource will be undercut by the closing of its office.
Heritage Minister Josee Verner told a news conference that NAWL might have some projects eligible for funding but that research and advocacy work would not qualify.
Women’s Equality moves to the back of the shop – Closure of NAWL leads to renewed call from labour for government to restore Status of Women mandate and funding
September 20, 2007
OTTAWA – The Canadian Labour Congress renewed its call today for the federal government to reverse budget cuts that have devastated progressive women’s groups across the country and immediately reinstate the equality mandate for Status of Women Canada.
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Finance Minister’s First Quarterly Report 2007/08
NEWS RELEASE
2007FIN0026-001127
Sept. 14, 2007
Ministry of Finance
STRONGER FISCAL OUTLOOK CREATES OPPORTUNITIES
VICTORIA – British Columbia’s updated fiscal plan is showing strong results, creating an opportunity for further investment in priority areas, Finance Minister Carole Taylor announced today with the release of the First Quarterly Report for 2007/08.
“When B.C.’s bottom line improves, so do our options,” said Taylor. “A strong and competitive economy, combined with a prudent approach to budgeting, allows for additional flexibility in meeting British Columbians’ priorities. We can do more while keeping the budget balanced and debt affordable.” …
For 2007/08, revenues are up $1.1 billion from budget due to increased taxation revenue, higher federal transfers, and higher net income for ICBC. … Spending is forecast to increase $190 million from budget due primarily to higher forest fire and flood related costs, additional child care spending, and changes to MLA compensation and pensions. The 2007/08 surplus is forecast to be $1.6 billion, up from $400 million expected at budget.
Economic growth is expected to remain robust at 3.0 per cent in 2007, down slightly from the 3.1 per cent forecast in the February budget. The revision reflects weakness in lumber and natural gas markets, and lower U.S. economic growth but is partially offset by stronger domestic demand, steady
employment gains, and continued strength in retail trade. Similarly, the economic growth forecast for 2008 is revised to 2.9 per cent, from 3.0 per cent at budget. …
“Prime Minister Stephen Harper has decided to delay the opening of the fall session of Parliament to Oct. 16, setting up the possibility of a fall election if the opposition parties vote against the government’s throne speech.
Parliament was scheduled to resume on Sept. 17, but Harper has chosen to end the First Session of Canada’s 39th Parliament early…
Parliament will begin with a throne speech that will, in effect, set the stage for a vote of non-confidence. The parties would vote on the speech within six working days, and the Conservatives currently have 125 of 308 seats….”
* If the throne speech is not supported by a majority of MPs, the government will fall, triggering an election.
What does this mean for Bill C303?
According to: Wanted: affordable quality child care — Vancouver Island News Group — Lake Cowichan Gazette; September 4, 2007; Jean Crowder, MP
“…As parliamentarians prepare to head back to Ottawa in September, the Early Learning and Child Care Act is also scheduled back in the House of Commons for a final vote. Because all opposition parties have supported this bill in the past, it is expected that it would continue through the process until it receives royal assent and becomes law.
However, there are concerns that the Conservative government is planning to prorogue the House (which means the discontinuation of parliamentary meetings without dissolving Parliament). If so, existing parliamentary business would end. All government bills that had not received royal assent prior to prorogation would cease to exist.
In order for a government bill to proceed in a new session, it must be reintroduced as a new bill or it may be reinstated if the House agrees.
Therefore, if the House is prorogued until October, the Early Learning and Child Care Act would be further delayed….”
Harper Conservatives celebrate first anniversary of failed plan
CUPE
Monte Solberg, minister of Human Resources and Social Development, is in Winnipeg today, holding a celebration of the so-called “Universal Child Care Benefit”.
“I’m not sure what there is to celebrate,” said CUPE National President Paul Moist. “This plan hasn’t delivered a single child care space.”
“To come to a city where there are close to 15,000 children waiting for child care spaces and hold a celebration is galling,” Moist continued. “Manitoba had one of the best plans for developing a universal non-profit child care system, until the Conservatives canceled the federal-provincial child care deals.”
Rather than address the crisis-level lack of licensed and regulated child care spaces, the Conservative government has decided instead to issue cheques for the taxable amount of $100 to families with children.
In Winnipeg alone, there are more children waiting for child care than there are currently in child care.
“If Monte Solberg is truly looking for something worth celebrating, his government has to first pass Bill C-303, the Early Learning and Child Care Act, and reinvest the money that’s needed to build a cross-Canada system that works,” concluded Moist.
