Province keeps child care subsidy promise to parents
Cariboo Press -- Penticton Western
22 Sep 2006

EXCERPT

Parents who get a child care subsidy received good news last week when the provincial government promised to keep up its subsidy program.

But the province's promise, while welcome, does little to address the more pressing issue of the lack of a national federal day care plan, said Kim Lyster, executive director of the Penticton and District Community Resources Society, which oversees Penticton's child care resource and referral program.

A letter from the Minister of State for Child Care to child care providers last week states that the province will continue to pay the higher subsidy rates and maintain the higher $38,000 income cutoff which it announced last September. It also said that the province will "endeavour to maintain other child care services during the course of the current school year."

A spokesperson for the minister said the "other" services include programs such as the child care resource and referral program and money given to some child care providers to offset operating costs and capital expenses. The provincial government is considering all its options on how to move forward with its other child care programs, but the child care subsidy will remain regardless of what other decisions are made, the spokesperson said.

The letter was sent out to reassure parents who were confused about how changes in federal funding might affect their provincial child care subsidy.

That reassurance was important after the federal government cancelled the early learning and child care agreement, which resulted in a loss of $455 million for this province, said Lyster.

The comprehensive national child care program created by the former Liberal government has since replaced in part by the $100 a month Universal Child Care Benefit parents now receive from the federal government.

"(That) doesn't equate to actual accessibility or a national child care plan," she said. "It's just $100 a month. Big deal."

Quality child care can "easily" cost $600 per month per child, said Lyster.

Many parents need access to child care because they need two incomes to make ends meet, even if one of the parents wants to stay home. Single parents have no choice but to work and need access to child care, she said.

While keeping up the provincial subsidy is important, inadequate federal funding means that parents who must work face difficult choices, such as leaving their children in situations that may not be safe or appropriate for their children, she said.

Without national funding and a national child care plan, child care and early learning infrastructure remains "compromised," she said.

"Access to child care is a real fundamental right," she said. "It really supports people working and knowing that their children are safe and secure and well cared for."...