Letter: Carolyn Ferns, Toronto; Calgary Herald

ABC – Re: “Aussie day-care company eyes Calgary,” Oct. 24.

Kathy Graham of the Association of Day Care Operators of Ontario is completely off the mark in her comments defending ABC Learning Centres.

Graham says, “Whenever we have competition, that creates more choice — it increases the quality overall.” Sadly, this just isn’t how it works when it comes to ABC. Two points from the experience in Australia:

It was reported in the Australian newspaper The Age that in 2006, ABC took legal action against the state of Victoria to stop authorities from asking for details and documents relating to a series of alleged breaches in care standards within their centres.

This year in New South Wales, for-profit representatives on a government panel studying child-care quality swayed the government against recommendations to improve staff-child ratios. It seems to me this behaviour does not increase quality in any way.