Yesterday's debate on child care in the House of Commons:
Speaker, tomorrow is a shameful anniversary. It marks three years to
the day since the Conservative government cancelled the Liberal child
care agreements. The City of Toronto has just announced it will have to
cut 6,000 child care spaces, almost a quarter of all its subsidized
spaces. The budget is silent on child care.
Jody
Dallaire of the Child Care Coalition said, “But government refuses to
meet the economic needs of women by investing in child care”.
Is
the government so out of touch with working Canadians that it cannot
hear the families and child care organizations across this country
crying out for quality affordable child care?
Mr.
Speaker, if the hon. member were in touch with Canadians, he would hear
how very pleased they are with the universal child care program that we
brought in three years ago.
That
program gives parents across Canada the choice in the child care that
they get for their children. We have also increased funding to the
provinces so that they can create daycare spaces. That funding will
increase by 3% next year to help them create even more spaces.
Mr.
Speaker, according to the Childcare Resource and Research Unit, since
the Conservative government came to power in 2006, child care space
expansion has evaporated. The government's plan to create spaces was a
dismal failure. Families know it; the government knows it.
The
minister has now offended people on EI, speaks of affordable housing as
a temporary need, and now speaks of a fictional 60,000 child care
spaces. The minister's indifference is appalling. When will she wake up
to the reality of working families? When will she take early learning
and child care seriously?
Mr.
Speaker, for three elections the Liberals promised a national child
care program and did not deliver a bit of it, not a space.
It
is the provinces that are reporting that thanks to our funding, they
have created 60,000 spaces. In fact our government is spending three
times as much money on early child care and early learning as the
Liberals ever did. Canadians deserve it, families need it, and we are
delivering it.
From The Windsor Star – Feb 6, 2009
TORONTO — Windsor child-care providers warn that families in this
area could be hard hit if Ontario loses thousands of subsidized daycare
spaces if the province doesn’t step in to provide funding in its coming
budget.
Andrea Calver, spokeswoman for the Ontario Coalition for
Better Child Care, said more than 15,000 spaces across Ontario could be
at risk when $63 million in federal funding runs out next year.
The
City of Windsor could be forced to eliminate, through attrition, about
430 spaces by April 2010, Debbie Cercone, executive director of Housing
and Children’s Services for Windsor, said Thursday.
The City of Toronto reported it is preparing to close 6,000 spaces — nearly a quarter of all city-run subsidized spaces.
From Liberal Press Release – Feb 6, 2009
February 6, 2009
Lack of funding for child care spaces hurts working Canadian families
OTTAWA – The Conservatives’ lack of a real child care plan is hurting
Canadian families who rely on quality, affordable and accessible child
care spaces to make ends meet, Liberal Human Resources and Skills
Development Critic Mike Savage said today.
“Today
marks the third anniversary of the cancellation of 10 provincial
agreements signed by the previous Liberal government on early learning
and child care in Canada,” said Mr. Savage. “All of these agreements,
along with the five billion dollars of long-term stable funding to
create quality, affordable and accessible spaces, were abandoned.
“In
three years, this government has still not implemented a dedicated
funding plan for child care spaces. The Conservatives claim to have
brought in ‘choice in child care’ but as every parent knows, no spaces
mean no choices,” he said.
The City of Toronto announced this
week it may be forced to cut as many as 6,000 child care spaces –
almost a quarter of all subsidized spaces in Toronto – due to a
shortfall in funding.
Mr. Savage pointed to the Conservatives’
2006 election promise to create 250,000 new child care spaces – spaces
which have yet to materialize.
“At a time when Canadians are
worried about their jobs, the Conservatives are only making it more
difficult for families to get by,” said Mr. Savage. “Investing in child
care is an investment in Canadian families. Working families
desperately need quality, affordable child care spaces. It’s time this
government starts taking early learning and child care seriously,” he
said.
From MSNBC – Feb 6, 2009
government's cancellation of much-needed funds for the first phase of a
national child care program, the Canadian Union of Public Employees
released a report card on what this government has achieved on early
learning and child care. The report card gives the Harper government a
failing grade on providing choice for parents, expanding access to
services, provision of public spending and accuracy of reporting.
Overall, Prime Minister Harper and his Human Resources Minister Diane
Finley got an overall grade of "F".
From PR-Canada.net – Feb 6, 2009
Diane Finley stood up yesterday in the House of Commons and said
that the Conservative government has created over 60,000 new child care
spaces in the last year.
According to national data from the Childcare Resource and Research
Unit, 26,661 spaces were created in Canada in 2006-2007. This
represents the smallest increase since 2001. "The few spaces that were
created across the country can be attributed to the provinces using
their own investment dollars; Quebec is the best example of this. The
Federal government has simply failed to meet the child care needs of
Canadian families," said Jody Dallaire, Chair and New Brunswick
Director of the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada.
"Three years ago, on February 6 2006(1), Prime Minister Harper
announced the cancellation of the early learning and child care
agreements signed with the provincial and territorial governments. In
total the Harper government cut $3.6 billion to families who
desperately need child care services," states Jenny Robinson, Executive
Director of the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care. "We are now
starting to see the devastating results of these losses, Ontario
municipalities alone are facing a $63.5 million shortfall just to keep
the services we have right now."
In these harsh economic times families need child care services;
people can't work or re-train without it. With thousands of parents
facing unemployment in the next year the loss of a child care space or
subsidy is an enormous economic blow.
Finley also stated in the House of Commons that the Conservative
government's Universal Child Care Benefit has worked to create new
child care spaces. "The UCCB has not created one child care space. It
has not improved access to child care for parents and has done nothing
to build a system of early learning and care across the country,"
stated Susan Harney, British Columbia Director, Child Care Advocacy
Association of Canada.
This will really complicate lives of many mothers/families, especially now, when it’s time to focus on working to overcome the hard economic time. Just hope somebody will accept this challenge and will offer affordable private solution. Maybe the whole net of facilities – McChildcare? 🙂
Take care
Julie
Hi Julie….you are correct. If these spaces end up closing it will put many families into a very difficult situation. Let’s hope some sort of solution will be found quickly. Thanks for stopping by. Jane