Red Oaks Manor in Port Alberni will have between 20 and 25 daycare spaces built in the B.C. Housing complex soon. The Ministry of Children and Family Development and B.C. Housing have signed a memorandum of understanding to create child-care facilities in three communities. Social housing sites in New Westminster, Kamloops and Port Alberni were chosen for the first phase of the project.

"I want them all open in the next six months," said Minister of State for Child Care, Linda Reid, after making the announcement. She said the spaces are being built into social housing projects to make them more convenient for low- income families who often don't have a vehicle.

Roger Butcher, from the Island office of B.C. Housing, said they submitted a list of potential properties and the ministry selected Port Alberni. Butcher added that Red Oaks has a suitable office space in the complex that can be renovated for use as a daycare.

Reid came under fire in March when $40 million was removed from the provincial childcare budget. Reid blamed the cuts on the federal government. "We are doing our best to backfill that federal withdrawal," Reid said.

The Ministry of Children and Family Development is committing $2.5 million to the funding partnership. B.C. Housing, with the ministry, will identify appropriate and viable non-profit child care providers to operate the centres. The agreement ensures that each day-care centre will operate for a minimum of 10 years.

Since 2001, the province has created 3,300 new spaces, bringing the total number of government-funded, licensed child-care spaces to more than 82,300.

Child-care workers from Stepping Stones joined in a day of action to protest government cuts in February. Sheila Prpich of the Alberni Valley Child Care Society admitted that the fallout wasn't as bad as expected, but the centre just increased fees to cover the funding shortfall on July 1. "We've had to make an overall increase to all of our programs," Prpich said. She said the increase amounted to between $50 and $100 per month per family.

As for the new spaces slated for Red Oaks, on Eighth Avenue, Prpich said she didn't see the proposal affecting Stepping Stones. "Most of our programs run with a waiting list," Prpich said. The administrator said she's leery of these government announcements. "Where they give us something, they usually take it away somewhere else," Prpich said.