| The Alberta government is refusing to enter into a national child-care program if it has national standards attached, and that has the president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) concerned that child care in the province will end up being subpar compared to other provinces.
Child and Family Services minister Heather Forsyth has stated that Alberta should be able to decide how to spend federal money for the national child-care program, including continuing to allow private-for-profit day cares and day homes.
"We already have a great child-care system in Alberta. We are leading the way with a range of quality, innovative programs and services to meet the needs of all parents, whether they choose to go to work, go to school or stay at home," states Forsyth in a recent press release.
CUPE president D’Arcy Lanovaz says national standards are badly needed in Alberta because licensing requirements and regulations surrounding child care are sorely inadequate here.
"In Alberta it’s a buyer beware kind of scenario. So as a parent you have no idea what you’re getting into. It puts all the onus on the parents," says Lanovaz.
In January a baby was abandoned for three hours after the privately run Bear’s Paw Day Care Centre in Edmonton locked its doors for the night with the child still inside. Three years ago a St. Albert day home was shut down after parents discovered their children were being drugged. And Lanovaz says there was also an incident in Edmonton a few months ago where a day care left rodent poison within easy reach of children. He says publicly funded, not-for-profit day cares would be more likely to provide quality programming and care for children.
"We don’t want a situation where we’re pumping (public) money into a private system that’s warehousing children," he says. "Parents need to be certain their children are being well taken care of."
Lanovaz says Forsythe "seems to be advocating for a patchwork system across the country."
Jody Korchinski, spokesperson for Child and Family Services, says child-care facilities are licenced by her ministry and they have to meet provincial regulations. She says the government has recently introduced a voluntary accreditation program through which child-care facilities can fill out a self-evaluation form on programs and services they provide as well as any plans to enhance existing services. Parents can then use that information to decide what facility to put their kids in.
Korchinski says two-thirds of all child-care centres in Alberta are private-for-profit businesses. She says Child and Family Services minister Heather Forsyth wants the province to receive federal funding for child-care programming without any strings attached so the province can exercise more flexibility in how it offers child-care services. A national program would be problematic because there are different issues in different regions of the country, she says.
"I think it comes down to this is an area of provincial jurisdiction," she says. "We already have a great child-care system in Alberta."
"We do agree with the general principles being discussed... and the overall vision for the national child-care initiative," says Korchinski. "We would like to have choice in how we invest the money. We will certainly be accountable to Albertans on how the money is spent."
Paul Martin has promised to spend $5 billion a year on a national child-care program. The federal and provincial governments are currently negotiating how the program will work. |
Copyright ©2005 FFWD. All rights reserved.