Child care system worth fighting for, say advocates; National campaign leaders in Rupert to call for Canada-wide child care
The Daily News - Prince Rupert
24 May 2007
By: Leanne Ritchie

The federal government may have taken a swipe at the building blocks of a national child care system but advocates believe the opposition will start building it again.

Speaking yesterday at a luncheon for Prince Rupert child care providers, community groups and politicians, Morna Ballantyne of the National Code Blue for Child Care Campaign said the voice of people wanting to see a national child care system is getting louder.

And that gives her hope.

"Child care is one of the few issues at the federal level that the three opposition parties are united on," she said.

"And they've adopted, at the committee stage, a federal child care program."

Child care took a blow when the Conservative government cancelled a funding agreement with the provinces.

Instead, they now send parents cheques for $100 a month to help pay for child care costs.

In response to the loss of the federal transfer, British Columbia in turn cut its funding for child care centres. In June, parents can expect to see an increase in fees for child care as the provincial Child Care Operating Fund will be reduced.

"The Code Blue Campaign goal is to try and give a voice to the millions of Canadians who support early childhood education," said Ballantyne.

"We need to use the opportunity of the next federal election to continue to put pressure on those parties and get them to vote to invest the $1.2 billion needed to make universal child care available to all children."

Research has shown that early childhood education, especially up until the age of six years, is very important for children.

Rita Chudnovski of the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of British Columbia, said the $100 a month cheque being sent by the federal government to families is a poor replacement for a national child care system.

"Even countries with economies no where near as good as ours provide quality child care," said Chudnovski. "B.C. is the only province that is cutting child care services. All the other provinces have found a way ... to at least maintain child care spending."

"This reflects a provincial government, that unless someone else is willing to pay the bills, is not committed to building a child care system," said Chudnovski.

Both Chudnovski and Ballantyne encouraged people to take up the issue with their MLAs and MPs during the summer months when the house and legislature are not in session.

"We have to make it clear to politicians over the summer that they haven't ground us down," said Chudnovski.

The meeting in the afternoon was followed with a potluck dinner at the Nisga'a Hall in recognition of May as Child Care Month.