CALGARY - Turning away from $500 million in day care funding for Alberta would leave Alberta parents in a lurch. That was the opinion of D’Arcy Lanovaz, Alberta president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
Lanovaz was responding to media reports that Children’s Services Minister Heather Forsyth might turn down federal day care funds if the money has to go to accredited day care centres. Alberta’s share of the funding would be approximately $500 million over five years.“What the minister is saying is that unless the government does what she wants, Alberta parents get left out in the cold,” said Lanovaz. “Turning your back on that kind of support doesn’t make sense - it’s a crime against working parents.”
“The provincial government likes to talk about ‘choice’ for parents, but what kind of choice do parents have when the government turns its back on funding for more and better day care spaces,” said Lanovaz. “All Forsyth is doing is taking choices away.”
Lanovaz said that the federal government promised a national child care program, and that CUPE supports a system geared towards non-profit care. “
Study after study, including a recent study by the University of Toronto, shows that non-profit day-care centres provide the highest quality care on almost any factor you measure,” said Lanovaz.
“Why is the provincial government against quality child care?”