Children face risk through budget cuts
Luke Brocki, Powell River Peak Online
01/31/2007
EXCERPT

Local child care advocates feel upcoming BC Liberal cutbacks to the Child Care Resource and Referral (CCRR) program will destroy services essential to families and child care providers.

The CCRR provides support and services to child care programs and to families seeking child care services, said Deb Bryant, coordinator of Success By 6 Powell River, an early childhood development initiative.

In Powell River, CCRR programs offer training, toy and equipment lending, access to art supplies, referrals to quality child care, information and assistance with child care subsidy to parents, and ongoing consultation with parents and caregivers.

Earlier this month, CCRR program providers across the province received a letter from Linda Reid, minister of state for child care....

Maureen Hickey, a local CCRR child care consultant, was outraged her program would be abolished by September 30, 2007. "Our children are our future; surely in those important early years it is our duty to ensure that we advocate for the highest quality care for them," she said in a release. "Eliminating programs that promote quality care may result in more children becoming vulnerable or at risk."

Hickey feels the cuts will most impact smaller communities because there are no other resources available to pick up the soon-to-be extinct services.

Ottawa did away with the Early Learning and Child Care Agreement last year, which will cost the province $450 million in funding over three years, but Nicholas Simons, New Democratic Party MLA for Powell River-Sunshine Coast, feels blaming the federal government for the upcoming provincial cuts is mean-spirited. "We're experiencing huge budget surpluses. And besides, the province provided this money before the federal government gave its money," he said.

"They're using the federal cuts as an excuse to pull their money back."

The Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC agreed, recently calling for Reid's resignation from her cabinet position.

"Minister Reid blames it all on the federal government, but it is clear that she is totally unable to effectively represent the interests of BC children," stated Susan Harney, chairwoman of the coalition, in a release. "It is time for her to take responsibility for the crisis in child care and step aside. We need a minister of child care who can restore the cuts and build the child care system that BC needs."

Many BC day care centres plan to stage a one-day protest meant to draw attention to the federal and provincial funding cuts on February 13, the day of the provincial throne speech.