Child care facilities across Kamloops intend to shut down in protest on Tuesday, February 6th (anniversary of the current government's swearing-in), according to an article in the Kamloops Daily News. Conservatives like ex-Minister of Social Development Diane Finley (pictured) were very proud when they announced their answer to the Liberal national child care program: a taxable $100 per month for families with a child under 6. Now, "you can't find child care in this town," says Val Janz. Daycare operator Irene Wende reminisced about the universal funding for child care that existed under the Liberals. "As soon as Stephen Harper came in," she explains, "they cut it."
If non-union child care centres are desperate enough to close up shop, there's obviously a problem. Meanwhile, our elected representative in Ottawa, Betty Hinton, does – you guessed it – nothing.
Cited article by Cam Fortems
Published January 26, 2007
©Copyright The Daily News in Kamloops
3 comments:
The Conservative child care plan is the best plan. It is much better than the Liberal plan because:
1. Child care is the constitutional responsibility of the provinces. The provinces should be the ones to decide what childcare model they want, not the federal goverment. The Conservative plan respects the jurisdiction and rights of the provinces while at the same time acknowledging that the federal government has a social responsibility to fulfill.
2. In very small towns and rural areas there is no childcare available so the only option for parents is to stay at home or have someone else look after their kids. The Liberal plan didn't do anything for these people whereas the Conservative plan helps everyone.
3. Not all parents want to send their kids to childcare. Some parents want to stay at home while others may want relatives or friends to look after their children. Again, the Liberal plan didn't do anything for these people whereas the Conservative plan helps everyone.
Report Confirms Conservatives on Wrong Child Care Track
January 11, 2007
Ottawa – Liberal Social Development Critic Bonnie Brown applauded today’s report from Code Blue for Child Care (CBCC) denouncing Stephen Harper’s government for failing to create a single child care space since being elected.
“The Conservatives campaigned on a commitment to create 125,000 new child care spaces over five years, but Prime Minister Harper’s government has failed to create a single child care space,” said Ms. Brown.
“The report confirms that the minority Conservative government has neither a comprehensive nor coherent long-term plan for early childhood education. The Liberal agreements put Canada on the right track to ensure a high-quality system for future generations, and now we’ve derailed,” she added.
Since coming to power, the Conservative government has withdrawn early learning and child care funding from the provinces and territories. In its place they’ve pledged a one-time $10,000-per-space tax credit or payment to employers or community organizations to create up to 125,000 child care spaces over five years. This represents a cut of $3.75 billion to the child care funding promised by the previous Liberal government over the same period.
Making Space for Child Care: Getting Good Child Care Policy Back on the Agenda calls on the Harper government to restore the previous Liberal government’s funding agreements with the provinces to provide the fair access to high-quality early learning and child care (ELCC) that Canadian families need.
“I agree with the report’s observations that the child care space initiative is not practical and that employers are reluctant to take on providing ELCC because they don’t have the expertise,” said Ms. Brown.
Ms. Brown pointed out that thousands of new spaces in rural and urban communities across Canada would already have been created had the previous Liberal government’s bilateral agreements been upheld.
“Our bilateral agreements were the first steps toward building a national system based on the principles of quality, universality, accessibility and development – the system Canadian families need. It was irresponsible of the Conservatives to dismantle the system without a plan to provide Canadian families with early childhood spaces,” she said.
“Mr. Harper has changed the Minister in charge of this plan, but we still haven’t heard a word about new child care spaces for Canadian families. I see no evidence that this government is serious about meeting the needs of Canadian families for fair access to high quality ELCC,” added Ms. Brown.
Linda Reid of the provincial Liberals pointed out yesterday that parents are $1200 ahead on the Conservative plan as opposed to the federal Liberal plan.
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