$33 million for B.C. kids
Vancouver Island News Group -- Duncan News Leader
21 Mar 2007

A Lake Cowichan childcare worker hopes money the federal government promised will help improve the province's shaky childcare situation.

When the federal government dropped its budget Monday, $250 million was penciled in to create more childcare spaces throughout the country.

British Columbia will be receiving $33.1 million.

Wendy Fetchko, supervisor of Kaatza Day Care Centre, would love it if some of that money were committed to the childcare operating fund budget.

That provincial government slashed that budget and, as of July 1, the federal portion of the childcare operating fund will be eliminated completely. ...

"We need money that is going to open spaces and sustain those spaces," said Fetchko.

"We've got 51 children on our waiting list.

"If that funding was restored, we could open up to accommodate some people on the waiting list."

If it isn't restored daycare providers will have to hike their fees, Fetchko said.

They wouldn't be able to hire more staff or take in more children.

"We want to increase but there's no operating funding to do that," she said.

"We'd have to charge the parents so much that they wouldn't be able to afford it." ..

"I've been in childcare since 1975 and I've never seen it as bad as it is right now." ...