Invest in our children
The Daily News (Kamloops)
February 6, 2007
Opinion -- By: Peter Kerek ,Secretary, Kamloops & District Labour Council

It should go without saying that a national child-care plan is a matter not only of equality for working class folks, but it is a matter of efficiency and economics, too.

For every dollar spent on early education and intervention in children under the age of five, our society saves $5 from future expenditures related to the justice, health and welfare systems in place.

Our politicians need to put aside their social and religious beliefs on this issue and look at this more pragmatically. A society that puts educated and skilled workers out of the workplace to care for their young is obviously not utilizing those skills and education that we have all invested in. And these parents are staying home mostly because the cost of child care makes it impractical for them to return to the workforce. This is a complete waste of society's human capital.

Now, the provincial Liberals have announced that they are cutting funding to a variety of childcare resources across the province. This is nothing short of an attack on single parents, children, and working families who cannot afford to have one parent staying at home to raise children. And even when they can afford it, there is still a shortage of existing childcare spaces.

Every resource that goes into our young today, that is, all of our young, not just the affluent young, goes toward building a better nation for the future. The Kamloops and District Labour Council encourages all of you to let your elected government officials -- Kevin Krueger, Claude Richmond and Betty Hinton -- know that you are not satisfied with their current approach to child care.

Their respective government's negligent attitude to the importance of this matter is simply inexcusable.