Kids still waiting for child-care spot
The Province
January 23, 2007
Dateline: OTTAWA

Source: The Canadian Press

OTTAWA -- There's no federal help in sight for frazzled parents facing years on waiting lists for child care.

One year after the Conservatives won power on a platform touting 125,000 new spaces over five years, there isn't a clear plan on how to create them. Soon after gaining power, the Tories dropped a $5-billion plan to build a national early learning system.

"They're really over a barrel," said Monica Lysack, head of the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada.

"They don't have a plan. They haven't created a space. Parents are being caught in the middle of this cut-and-run approach."

The Conservatives argue they're handing out cheques directly to families worth $1,200 a year for each child under six and so far a total of $1.2 billion has been dispersed.

"Great," said Lysack. "But it's not child care. Even they acknowledge that." She said the Tories are running from the fact that there are registered spaces across the country for fewer than 20 per cent of kids under 12 -- a problem that can't be solved by delivering money to families who then can't find daycare to spend it on.

In B.C., it's not unusual for waiting lists to stretch to more than two years for a pre-school spot.

The Conservatives committed $250 million in last year's budget to create new spaces in 2007-08, but the program relies on tax incentives to lure employers and non-profit groups into the child-care business, an approach that has been widely panned.