Campbell Liberals backtrack on commitment to child care

Minister ignores advice from own finance committee and progress board

Victoria (10 Jan. 2007) - Linda Reid, the minister responsible for child care in Gordon Campbell's Liberal government, has misled parents and ignored advice from its own agencies in a recent surprise announcement of funding cuts to child care, says the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU/NUPGE).

“The provincial government told parents and care providers in September that they would maintain child care services until at least the end of the school year, and they’ve gone back on their word,” argues union president George Heyman.

“Now the minister says that some of these services will be cut, months earlier than their original funding commitment. This announcement ignores the best advice from the government’s own Finance Committee and Progress Board – both of which have urged the government to expand support for quality child care across the province.”

On September 12, 2006, Reid sent a letter to parents and child care providers saying that the province "will endeavour to maintain all other child care services to the end of the current school year." The end of the year is nearly six months away - the end of June 2007.

However, Reid’s Jan. 5 announcement indicates that annual funding for the Child Care Resource and Referral Program (CCRR) will be cut from $14 million to $9 million, effective April 1, 2007. The government has also chosen to cut off new applications for subsidized day care spaces, effective immediately.

The government-appointed B.C. progress board’s year-end discussion paper on social conditions advised the government to re-invest in social infrastructure, including child care. The government’s own finance committee also recommended increasing social spending in areas like child care, affordable housing and women’s services, to respond to the “growing public concerns” around these issues.

“At a time when 75% of Canadian women are in the workforce, and waitlists for child care are growing each year, this policy reversal is appalling,” says Heyman. “When the federal Conservatives announced a $455 million cut in child care funding to B.C., Minister Reid said nothing for weeks and months. Now she is reneging on her government’s commitment.”

A recent survey of 50 licensed child care centres across B.C. showed that waits for quality child care average one to two years and is growing. Meanwhile, 92% of child care centres reported facing severe challenges to recruit and retain qualified staff, after the province cut $40 million from child care services in 2002, and imposed wage and benefit rollbacks on child care workers. NUPGE