Child care favoured
Vancouver Island News Group -- Victoria News
31 Jan 2007
Letters -- Denise Savoie, Member of Parliament, Victoria

Re: "Child care fees set to rise due to federal cuts" (Jan. 10, 2007).

I know that increases in the cost of child care caused by the Conservative government's cancellation of the federal Early Learning and Child Care program will be a hardship to the many parents already stretching to pay child care fees. These increases will further whittle away any gain that parents of children in care were getting from the (taxable) Universal Child Care Benefit. It is now clearer than ever that what we need is not piecemeal schemes such as the Universal Child Care Benefit, but a national child care system designed to provide affordable quality care for all who require it.

This is why last spring I put forward a private members' bill entitled the Early Learning and Child Care Act. If passed, this bill would enshrine a national child care program in legislation and ensure reliable provincial transfers for child care spaces. The majority of MPs have already given it preliminary approval, and I expect it to be discussed in greater detail by the parliamentary Human Resources committee sometime in late February.

Meanwhile, I intend to raise these increases in the House of Commons, and to hold the new Minister of Human Resources Monte Solberg accountable for meeting the child care needs of families in my riding.