Cuts to child care put children at risk, say Chilliwack daycare operators
By Robert Freeman
The Progress
Feb 02 2007

A drop in the quality and safety of child care services in B.C. is feared by parents and providers alike if the provincial government is forced to make more funding cuts due to changes in the next federal budget.

Last week, B.C. service providers learned that Child Care Resource & Referral offices will have their budgets cut significantly by March 31 this year, and close permanently by Sept. 30 due to the loss of $455 million in federal funds following cancellation of the Early Learning and Child Care Agreement.

About 180 daycare providers, parents and the plain curious showed up at a town meeting in Chilliwack Monday to hear MLA Linda Reid, the B.C. government's minister of state for children, explain the current state of affairs. Chilliwack MLAs John Les and Barry Penner also attended.

Reid outlined a long list of child services in B.C., but frankly admitted that she doesn't know what's going to happen in the future. However, she vowed to maintain current funding levels until the federal budget is tabled in March. "I can't tell you what the future holds," she said, "These are challenging times, no question." ...

"What happens in Chilliwack may be different than Prince George," she said. A new B.C. government website will provide some of the information available at CCRRs, but Chilliwack daycare provider Johann Cote told Reid that the cutbacks "are not in the best interest of the care children will get."

Without the support of the CCRR office in Chilliwack, which refers parents seeking daycare to qualified agencies, and provides workshops, training and networking for service providers, she feared children will be "sat in front of TVs" instead of cared for in a stimulating environment.

One parent at the meeting said that before she discovered CCRRs she was "terrified" of leaving her children alone with an unknown provider while she went off to work.

"I don't want to go back to the days before CCRRs," she said. "I really don't see taking a step backward like this."

Daycare operator Linda Love pointed out that CCRRs also help providers with insurance and playground equipment.

"When you're making not even taxable income, that's a huge part of your budget. It's a huge concern," she said.

Others service providers at the meeting said that even before the cutbacks, they were paying out of their own pockets for nutritious snacks and other expenses.

"There's no money in it. It's your heart and soul you put in it," said daycare operator Kathy Esau.

She also told Reid that subsidies provided by the B.C. government, which should take about three weeks to reach daycare providers, often don't arrive for months.

Reid seemed genuinely surprised and promised to look into Esau's complaint. "I'm on it," she said.

After the meeting, Esau said the $100 per month the Conservative government is sending to parents for child care is a "farce" and that funding should have gone to daycare operators.

"It's a farce because the parents don't give it to the daycares anyway," she said. "The money should have come to the daycares and not to the parents." ...