'Stop devastating a critical service for our children'
Nelson Daily News
30 Jan 2007
Editorial -- By: Dr. Carrie Fitzsimons M.D. F.R.C.P.(C)

To the Editor:

Open letter to the Honourable Linda Reid, Minister of State of Child Care.

I am shocked to hear of more cuts to our child care services. I am a working paediatrician and mother. I am hearing from our community the shock and dismay that your announcement has caused.

In June of 2000, the millennium year, I attended the Canadian Paediatric Society Meeting in Ottawa. Many of your fellow politicians were involved in the meeting and were speaking on the "National Child Agenda." I have yet to see the fallout from all those promises.

What I have seen as a working paediatrician and what I understand as a working mother, is that child care services are in a state of disaster. Our child care workers are paid a mere pittance for their important work. These are people doing critical work for probably the most important years in child development.

I have seen children's daycares in our area close and buildings sold. There is a severe shortage of positions for children of families who choose licensed child care. The federal $100 cheque per month covers practically nothing in terms of the expense incurred for childcare for most families.

In this time of fiscal surplus I really don't understand why child care is not a priority. It may well be convenient to blame the federal government but what I see and hear from the boasts of the BC Liberal government is all about the surplus and the success of this booming province.

It is safe to say that both the BC provincial and federal governments have appalling track records in supporting child care. It is time to stop devastating a critical service for our children and our families in this province.