New Brunswick premier playing games with child care

'It’s time for the premier to drop his political agenda |
and adopt instead the agenda of parents and children.' - James Clancy, NUPGE president.

Ottawa – Premier Bernard Lord continues to use New Brunswick’s rural families to play a dreadful political game with Ottawa over money for child care. In the 2005 federal budget, the federal government set aside $5 billion over five years for a national early child care and education program in Canada.

However, Lord told the Globe and Mail on June 28 that his province could not yet sign a deal with the federal government because he wants “a broader range of options for parents” and “what may work for downtown Toronto may not work for Plaster Rock, N.B.”

The 340,000-member National Union of Public Employees says Lord is missing the point.

“The premier seems to ignore the fact that the vast majority of Canadian families and their governments agree that the best way to give parents real options is to build a universal, publicly-funded, high quality child care and early learning program,” says NUPGE president  James Clancy.

Five provinces have signed

In fact, since March 2005, five provinces – Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador – have all signed agreements to set the foundation for such a program, he notes.

“The premier also seems to gloss over the fact that the first two provinces to sign child care deals with the federal government were ones with large rural populations – Manitoba and Saskatchewan,” adds Clancy.

“The difference between the situation in New Brunswick and other provinces is not a lack of options or geography, but a commitment to ensuring all families have access to a universal, publicly-funded, high-quality child care and early learning program," he says.

“Everyone can see that Premier Lord’s tactic is simply a bargaining ploy to obtain federal child care dollars without accountability. It’s time for the premier to drop his political agenda and adopt instead the agenda of parents and children who want the posturing to stop and enhancement of high-quality, publicly-funded child care options to begin."  NUPGE

Web posted by NUPGE: 4 July 2005

More News
News Archive
Media releases