ADVOCACY UPDATE - NOVEMBER 07, 2007
Dear Members, Partners and Colleagues:
I am writing to you today about a clear and present threat to our collective vision for a comprehensive, community-based child care system. A multinational corporate child care chain is in Canada today. It appears that an agent of 123 Busy Beavers Learning Centres, a partner of 123 Global, has been actively seeking to purchase existing child care programs in Alberta, BC and Ontario. All Canadians should be alarmed about this development, and immediately raise their concerns across communities and with provincial and federal governments. If allowed to take hold in Canada, we believe that the effects of multinational corporate child care will be broadly felt across our country.
One-size-fits-all child care warehouses are not the solution to the ongoing child care crisis in this country. Lessons from elsewhere – particularly Australia – make clear that we should call on governments to protect our children from being used as publicly-traded commodities. The potential buyout of our community child care services by a foreign corporation is very likely to result in increased parent fees and/or decreased attention to the elements of quality child care. Provincial/territorial child care operating funding and parent subsidies will be directed to increase shareholder profits, a misuse of out tax dollars. Far from being a solution to Canadians’ child care needs, foreign ownership will take us far away from our vision of a system that is high-quality, affordable, accessible, and community based.
More public funding for child care is essential, and countries with effective child care systems show us that public funding must be tied to accountability for service, ensuring that it goes toward greater quality, affordability and accessibility. Bill C303, if enacted, would both put a stop to the threat of multinational corporate child care in Canada, and also establish criteria and conditions that would ensure that a quality, affordable, universal and accountable child care system could then be created. On Wednesday, October 31st Code Blue for Child Care held a press conference with opposition critics to raise awareness about the importance of community based child care and to urge Prime Minister Stephen Harper to act quickly against the threat of foreign takeover of Canada’s child care programs by passing Bill C303, the Early Learning and Child Care Act. "We are at a critical juncture in this country," said Shellie Bird, coalition spokesperson for the event, "there is an urgent need to protect Canadian child care from foreign corporate takeover."
To find out more about the threat of multinational corporate child care in Canada see the Code Blue for Child Care website.
Sincerely,
Jody Dallaire
Board Chair, CCAAC