National child care lacking
Burnaby Now
June 24, 2006
Opinion -- Marjorie Owen

Dear Editor:

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a Canadian Labour Congress Women's Conference in Ottawa where over 350 women met members of Parliament to lobby them on quality, affordable universal day care across Canada.

A number of MPs that were actually in the House would not meet with their constituents on the issue of national child care. Jean Crowder, NDP MP from Nanaimo/Cowichan (Vancouver Island) met with the women whose MPs were not available.

On April 3, 2006 - the day Parliament reopened - the Conservative government met to strategize around how to convince the public that a taxable $1,200 per year per preschool child was preferable to setting up a public system of early childhood learning and care.

This was instead of maintaining the plan to provide $5 billion over five years for provinces to begin establishing a national system of quality care and early education for children initiated by the Liberals in their final months. Parents are told they now have a 'choice in child care.'

Choice in child care when we are short more than two-and-a-half million regulated child-care spaces? Choice in child care when parents are given about $23 a week (before taxes) to pay for it?

I, along with five other women from Burnaby and Aldergrove, had the opportunity to meet with our MP, Peter Julian. He advised us that the NDP MP from Trinity-Spadina in Ontario, Olivia Chow, will be putting a private members bill on the National Childcare Act before the House of Commons on September 21. He also suggested that personal stories are the best way to convince our federal government why we need the National Childcare Act.

I know from personal experience, that my husband and I have both worked - we had no choice - we needed to pay the mortgage and put food on the table. when my children were small I had to quit my job and was out of the workforce for 10 months because of inadequate, unaffordable daycare. It was very difficult to do and times were very tough.

To my amazement, when a person claims the $1200 on their income tax at the end of the year, a single income family with a net family income of $200,000 will actually receive $1,076; where a single parent with a net family income of $30,000 will actually receive $301 after taxes. It is my opinion, along with many other women who attended the conference in Ottawa, that the Conservatives believe that women, parents or grandparents should stay home and raise the children.

I urge every one of your readers to contact their MP advising them that we want to know what his/her party will do to get long-term sustainable funding to the provinces for early learning and childcare. We also want to know if that Member of Parliament will support legislation that makes the federal government accountable to parliament with respect to childcare funding and policy. We want them to support Olivia Chow in the House of Commons on September 21, 2006, where she will try to implement a National Childcare Act. Readers can go to the federal government's website to lobby their MP. The website address is www.canada.gc.ca.