PREPARING A BRIEF

Before you start to draft your submission, you may find it helpful to have a look at a previous pre budget consultation brief e.g., CCAAC submission for 2002 (PDF)

The following sample includes three sections:

• "Introduction",
• "Canada's reality", and
• "Recommendations".

We have drafted a sample - You can download, copy and paste the whole sample to include in your brief OR modify the following two sections OR write your own content for "Canada's reality" and "Recommendations to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance".

Introduction

Be sure to include all of your own/the group's contact information - name, address etc. In the first paragraph, it is helpful to introduce yourself/the group:

• give a few facts about yourself (a little background about your family e.g., concerned parents with 2 children aged x and x, attending xyz child care program in the province/territory of ... ) OR about the group you are writing on behalf of, e.g., we are a group of concerned parents/voters from XYZ Child Care Centre in city/province/territory and we are concerned about regulated child care ...we are writing on behalf of the advisory committee of ..../board of directors for XYZ Child Care Centre in the city of, province/ territory...We are .... (highlight local experience/profile of the group).
• reference affiliation with Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada and working with other parents and child care advocates from coast to coast to coast. Over the last year we have been involved with ...

Key messages and recommendations:

After the introduction, we have described what we titled "Canada's reality". You may also want to add some specific examples of what children and families are experiencing in your area. Progress? Challenges e.g., affordability; lack of spaces; provincial/territorial government decision not to spend the federal dollars for provincially/territorially regulated early learning and child care.

Background information - Please note: in the sample of our Recommendations to the Finance Committee we have referred to -

The European Union (EU): this is the "union of fifteen independent states based on the European Communities and founded to enhance political, economic and social co-operation. Formerly known as European Community or European Economic Community (EEC)."

Gross Domestic Product (GDP): this is a measure of economic activity and is calculated by adding together the market values of all of the goods and services produced within the country in a year.

Download Canada's Reality
Download Recommendations to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance

If you have any questions and/or would like assistance in preparing your brief, you may contact the Parent Voices Project Consultant, Dianne Goldberg at info@parentvoices.ca