To Minister Linda Reid:

Regarding your letter in the Oct. 26 Courier Islander; we too applaud Shelagh Germyn and her unselfish efforts in the Million Steps for Child Care run from Campbell River to Victoria. Our goal was to raise awareness about the prevalent issues in the field of child care and like you, we feel that we need to make British Columbians aware of the facts.

In your version of the facts you stated:

B.C. has not cut provincial child care funding. In fact, since 2002 BC has cut $50 million from its annual child care budget.

You stated that B.C. will invest $287 million in child care services this year despite the loss of federal funds. In fact, you are using federal child care funds to replace provincial funding cuts, this is not a BC investment.

You stated that you have spent $19 million since 2001 in capital spending. In fact, the reality is, most child care programs do not have the funds to match your grants and therefore are unable to apply for them. And if they did they do not have the child care staff to make an increase of child care spaces viable.

You stated that 318 spaces were created on Vancouver Island in 2005. We are not sure why you quoted that statistic when two years later we have over 400 children on waitlists in Campbell River alone! The fact is, you always neglect to say that spaces have closed. Some centres who received provincial capital funding to create new spaces have been unable to open, other centres have closed and still others are not operating at capacity. All because they can't find qualified staff. Why do spaces keep closing when you claim that your government has increased funding?

You stated that the ministry will be spending $12.5 million by 2010 on capital funding. The fact is, without qualified Early Childhood Educators to staff the facilities, it would be a waste of taxpayer's dollars.

You stated that you spend over $60 million per year on the Child Care Operating Funding program (CCOF). The fact is CCOF is unstable and insufficient. Unstable because it can be reduced or eliminated at any time and is contracted for only one year at a time. Insufficient because $2.34 per day (reduced by $1.40 in July 2006) per child is an unrealistic support for the cost of staffing and operating a quality licensed child care centre.

We have a solution that will alleviate some of the stress in the current child care crisis we are facing. The bottom line seems to be the low wages paid to qualified Early Childhood Educators. By increasing wages and ensuring benefits many of the current issues that have resulted in a crisis in child care will improve.

Problems that will be greatly reduced are as follows: People who have taken the training to become Early Childhood Educators will remain in the field rather than taking more lucrative jobs and others will take the training because they will be able to support themselves and their families. The current and new spaces that you are willing to fund will be able to operate, centers will not have to close due to lack of qualified staff, centers will be able to operate at capacity rather than decreasing enrollment to stay viable. With a decent living wage there would be an adequate number of Early Childhood Educators to address the widespread staff shortages in child care.

Instead of CCOF we need annualized core funding for child care programs to address wages and working conditions. This will significantly stabilize child care funding. We need a universal, accessible, quality child care program for BC's children and families.

As research consistently shows non-profit child care to demonstrate higher rates of quality care, we recommend future public funds only be available to non-profit organizations and small private operators.

The real fact is that child care is increasingly unaffordable for families and the spending you are doing does nothing to address that fact.

We are looking to you to be a champion of child care and show British Columbians your wisdom and forethought by spending funds in ways that will ensure a smooth path on the journey to a universal child care system that is reliable, stable and supports the children - our future society.