Tories' child care plan gets mixed review
The Daily News (Nanaimo)
May 3, 2006
EXCERPT:

There was good news and bad news for day-care centre owner Sharon Larkins.

Despite some criticism that parents may fritter the money away, Larkins said parents will have the flexibility to use the money for day care or other children's activities such as sports or dance that they may not otherwise be able to afford.

The Conservatives also announced that $250 million annually will be earmarked to support the creation of child care spaces, beginning in 2007. At that point, funding now going to the provinces under the Liberal child-care program will stop. New child care spaces are needed, said Larkins, who has a waiting list for 2007, but current spaces can't be forgotten.

The money from the Liberal program allowed child-care programs to increase staff wages and supports for children and lower fees, she said.

There was a "really good movement forward," and now it sounds like child care programs are losing the ground they gained, she said.