ADVOCACY UPDATE - NOVEMBER 24, 2008
Dear Child Care Colleagues:
The CCAAC has sent a letter to all members of parliament urging them to work together to protect Canadians from the corporatization of child care and from the impacts of the current global economic situation. Both of these dangers can be avoided by the same solution – a publicly-funded, community-owned child care system whose sole purpose is to support healthy children, families and communities.
You can help by calling on your federal, provincial and territorial elected representatives to protect the public interest. Let them know that:
- Various provincial officials are being lobbied with false fixes to Canada’s child care crisis such as property development and leaseback schemes. But new child care spaces must reflect public priorities, not market opportunities. As the Australian experience shows, we need public funding to lower parent fees, raise staff wages and build new, community-owned spaces.
- In good economic times and bad, Canada needs child care. Now more than ever, we need to build a stable, high quality child care system for our children that will also support families to find and maintain work, upgrade skills and achieve work/life balance.
Thank you for your ongoing advocacy support,
Jody Dallaire, Chairperson
Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada