Warning message

Please note that this page is from our archives. There may be more up-to-date content about this topic on our website. Use our search engine to find out.

CUPE leader joins child care workers, parents and kids to greet Dryden & provincial ministers

OTTAWA Canada will go from patchwork to excellence if all levels of government work together to create the public, not-for-profit child care system that Canadians deserve and need, said Paul Moist, CUPE national president.

Moist made the remarks as he joined with child care workers, parents and children to greet Minister Dryden Tuesday morning as Dryden began his day-long meeting with provincial social development ministers to discuss the child care program.

We are looking to all levels of government to work together to give Canadians what they have asked for, over and over, said Moist. The best way to ensure a quality program is to ensure that new expansion of the program is public and not-for-profit.

Moist pointed to the recent child care report issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which noted, among other things, that the most successful countries had public systems in place. The report urged Canada to move away from its current patchwork programs.

Moist affirmed the need for a federal-provincial/territorial agreement that is enforceable.

We want the governments to come out of their meeting today with a firm commitment to negotiate an enforceable agreement, said Moist. The money that the federal government is promising should come with strings attached so that a new pan-Canadian program gets off the ground properly. We can’t afford to gloss over this.

CUPE encourages the federal government to play an activist role in bringing about provincial/territorial agreement on a fundamentally new approach, said Moist.

All young children regardless of income level should have access to early education and care, in the same way that they have a right to education when they are older, said Moist. Early education should be provided on a not-for-profit basis and be publicly funded and regulated. Programs should be inclusive of all children, including children with special needs.

Moist will be available for comment on the outcome of todays social development ministers meeting. CUPE represents over 5,000 child care workers and has long advocated a pan-Canadian public child care system.

-30-

Contact:
Paul Moist, CUPE National President, cell (613) 558 2873;
Claude Gnreux, CUPE National Secretary-Treasurer (porte-parole francophone), cell (613) 794 8395;
David Robbins, CUPE Communications, cell (613) 878-1431