FLEMING SAYS MINISTER IS IGNORING VICTORIA'S GROWING CHILDCARE CRISIS
November 1, 2007

VICTORIA - British Columbia's Minister of State for Childcare must take
immediate action to stop the closure of the Fernwood Infant and Toddler
Centre, Victoria-Hillside MLA Rob Fleming said today.

Twenty families could be without childcare as early as next week if the
Minister does not step in and take seriously the parents plan to save
the Centre. The looming closure is putting undue stress on working
families who have no other childcare centres to turn to. The Fernwood
Centre currently has 374 families on the waiting list, and other centres
in Victoria have no room and report similar long waiting lists.

"Parents have developed a workable plan and the Minister must step up and do everything she can to help them out," said Fleming.

Fleming says the most critical issue is a widespread shortage of
accredited child care workers that has been exacerbated by the
relatively low wages the sector is forced to offer because of government cuts to childcare and a lack college training spaces. Until the government injects more funding into childcare for wages and training, centres throughout Victoria will continue to be in jeopardy of closing their doors.

Fleming points out that the Fernwood centre has not been the only victim of government inaction - in 2006 the Blanshard Community Centre was forced to close its pre-school and after-school care programs for the very same reason.

This problem is not unique to BC but BC is unique in not taking action
to solve the problem. Faced with the same problems as British Columbia, Alberta has increased wages for childcare workers and provided training grants to increase the number of accredited child care workers.