Child care cuts are coming
Parksville Qualicum - The News
FRED DAVIES News Reporter
Feb 02 2007
EXCERPT

Parents of young children across B.C. will soon need to brace for the likelihood of increased fees for many pre-school and daycare services in light of recently announced cuts to provincial funding....

The cuts have angered child care workers and advocates, with some promising a day-care day of protest on Feb. 13. Child care workers across the province are being asked to participate in a voluntary one day withdrawal of service to register their disgust with the announcements.

The development has upset one local politician enough to speak out publicly about what she sees as an abdication of government's responsibility. Accessible and affordable childcare is not just glorified babysitting, says Parksville city councillor and social worker Susan Powell.

"I am fed up. They are targeting a part of our population that can't defend themselves ... How many millions is the government spending on Stanley Park and how many million is being taken from child care intended for our most important resource, the children?" ...

From Ladysmith to Port Hardy there are currently 11 full time employees administering services through the auspice of the CCRR. That number will soon be reduced to four.

"Port Alberni and Powell River won't have service anymore," says Melanie Trudel, program manager of Pacific Care, the provincially funded agency that helps operate CCRR programming. "Generally they are the areas that need the most service."

While the Conservatives in Ottawa point to their universal child care benefit that supply parents with $100 per month, per child, advocates and industry workers say too subsidize child care by way of notoriously low wages and note the money does not address a critical shortage in available spaces. Also being decried are the cuts to money earmarked for operating expenses, representing about $40 a month per child that licensed group and family child care providers will need to recoup.

Gina Coutts operates Sunrise Preschool out of Parksville Elementary School. She says the provincial cuts will hurt both families and childcare providers. "I hope that we can make it without having to raise costs as that makes it too difficult for parents," she says. "The [federal] government is providing for families with children under six ... but then forces the providers to increase their rates. Ultimately it's not the gift it was made out to be."

Asked whether she'll be joining her colleagues in the one day walkout on Feb 13th, Coutts says, "Absolutely not. I wouldn't dream of doing that to families."

The need for quality day care has risen over time in B.C. Approximately 50 per cent of children under the age of six were in some form of non-parental care in 2003. That's up from 35 per cent in 1995....

"If the cuts mean day cares are forced to raise fees parents may feel cornered without much of a choice. If they decide to say 'What's the point of working?' and that it's more economical not to join the work force it could undercut the viability of communities and the domino effect could result in labour shortages," says Jewer.