'Blatant' waste of taxpayer dollars: CHILDCARE: Most recent decision by province throws the local system into 'absolute despair'
Nelson Daily News
18 Jan 2007
By: Sara Newham
EXCERPT

The noose has gotten tighter on childcare spaces in Nelson thanks to funding and program cuts made by the provincial government.

Victoria made the decision -- which will take effect April 1 -- in light of the cancellation of the Early Learning and Childcare (ELCC) agreement by the federal government.

"The whole system is in crisis already. This is just literally thrown us into a state of absolute despair," said Kim Adamson, West Kootenay Coordinator for Children First and Success by Six....

The letter explained that this represents an average rate reduction of about $2 per enrolled child per day or about $40 per month. The Universal Childcare Benefit is a taxable $100 per month for each child up to age six.

At the same time, the government will reduce funding for all 44 Child Care Resource and Referral (CCRR) Programs effective April 1 and cut the program entirely after September 30.

Among that program's functions, the CCRR program provides parents with referrals or names of child care providers in the area and it provides support to child care providers.

"Last year they told them to increase their services. And now what they're doing is they've told them all to close their doors on September 30 and they've asked them to cost out all of the costs to close it down," said Adamson, adding that the Nelson CCRR leased a new space. The government would also pay out severance.

Local CCRR coordinator Ray-Ann Miller said that they spent $40,000 on a renovation and other community CCRR programs, bought or leased vans to enhance services.

Adamson said that the provincial government has used the federal childcare funding to replace provincial funding and noted that it would cost $87,000 for the Nelson CCRR to buy out four years on its lease. This money -- earmarked to improve childcare -- Adamson explained, amounts to millions of dollars province-wide and is now being used to shut down programs.

"It's a blatant waste of taxpayer's dollars. The reality for parents is that their parent fees are going to go up or their daycare centres are going to close down," she said. "The key point about the CCRRs is that they [the B.C. government] knowingly had them spend a lot of money last year to improve and enhance their services when they knew that the federal money was going to be gone this year anyway."

Miller said that the provincial government has announced it has $3 million to spend on a new program to replace the CCRRs under a request for proposal from any agency. Miller said that the current programs have not yet received information about the details of the new program....

"What we think is happening is that there is no childcare plan in place. There's not a vision for a childcare plan in our province so the provincial government is throwing these federal dollars into programs but there's no plan. In effect, we think they're being wasted because there's no plan," said Miller.

When asked what childcare advocates plan to do, Miller explained that a small, hand-picked cross-section of affected people would meet Nelson-Creston MLA Corky Evans Saturday afternoon. Miller said the meeting is not a public one but indicated further action may be taken at a later date.

Adamson added that the childcare advocates would like the provincial government to reverse its decision and work on building a better childcare system.

"The fact that the provincial government is bragging about a $2-plus billion surplus and at the same time is cutting services to the most vulnerable children of our province is unconscionable," said Adamson. "We're tired of the different levels of government bandying back and forth over who has the responsibility for caring for our children and we're looking for some leadership from all levels of government to show our children that we care about them."