Change requires public pressure
Salmon Arm Observer
March 21, 2007

Sometimes people wonder if they have the power to do anything to change government. It was a sentiment expressed by many parents at a recent forum on child-care issues. B.C.'s working parents are facing rising prices due to government cutbacks to licensed care facilities and are also struggling with finding quality child care, as wait lists are increasing rapidly.

But there was something these parents could do - unite and make their voices heard. And they did - protesting, writing letters to government and media outlets and even protesting in places like the office of Okanagan Shuswap MP Colin Mayes. And in the face of such pressure, both the federal and the provincial government have had to make some pretty rapid about-faces.

Earlier this month, Linda Reid, minister of state for child care, reversed a decision to cut funding to child-care resource and referral programs across the province. The B.C. government decided it would maintain its $9 million funding commitment, but would not make up the $5 million which came from federal funding....

Our translation: Whoops, we didn't realize so many people would be mad about this one. Baby-toting parents on protest marches don't make our government look very good. Better do something quick. And now the federal Conservative government has flipped on its decision to use $250 million to create 125,000 new child care spaces by offering businesses a tax credit. ...

Our translation: Whoops, we didn't realize so many people would be mad about this one. An election call is in the wind and people seem to have noticed that our bright ideas on "child care choice" don't seem to be working too well. This doesn't make our government look very good. Better do something -- or at least appear to be doing something -- quick. As these political flip-flops show, public pressure can create change. It's the democratic way. The key factor is persistence.