Cuts will hurt day-care standards, says agency: Funding: The B.C. government will cut grants to referral agencies by 78%
The Daily News -- Nanaimo
07 Feb 2007
By: Derek Spalding

Parents could be scrambling to find child-care providers after the B.C. Liberals slash funding for referral agencies by 78%.

In Nanaimo, the Pacific Child and Family Enrichment Society, better known as Pacific Care, helps families find adequate day care, but it also regulates child care providers and offers affordable, professional development for child care staff.

"That will be all gone after the cuts are implemented," said Shirley Phillips, executive director at Pacific Care. "We do safety inspections . . . and criminal record checks and all that will be gone, too. There will be no standards that (members) have to meet."

The provincial government funds child care resource and referral programs to the tune of $14 million annually. That money will stay in place until March 31. From April to September, the government will provide referral programs with $4.5 million, a 50% reduction. The annual budget could be further reduced to $3 million after September.

"Child care resource and referral programs will not exist as they do today," Phillips said.

The provincial government blames the cutbacks on the federal government, which eliminated funding for the Early Learning and Child Care agreement, signed in September 2005. ...

Teresa Marshall, spokeswoman for the [BCGEU] said no other province in Canada has made such severe cuts in the face of federal government action. "This is shameful. We have a $2-billion surplus this year in B.C. We can definitely afford to put the money into child care to keep programs running," she said.

The loss of $455 million also means Nanaimo child care providers will have to raise rates in order to pay their staff. Jodie Bergen, owner and director of Wee Generations, said her centre will lose $800 a month without subsidies from the provincial government.

"It's pretty bad right now. The day cares are all full and the fees are still not high enough," she said.

"If they want to keep quality day care, (the government's) going to have to put some money into it."