Child Care

WHEREAS the federal government allocated 50 million to BC over the past two years to support child care and early childhood development; AND WHEREAS the BC government has reduced funding for child care across the province by 50 million since 2000; AND WHEREAS the City of Vancouver is experiencing a crisis in child care caused by provincial cutbacks to subsidies for low and moderate income families, cuts to operating grants and cuts to child-care advocacy organizations; AND WHEREAS the City of Vancouver has for the past two years provided subsidies to protect 600 child care spaces for those families who are most in need even though child care funding is a provincial and federal responsibility; AND WHEREAS the City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Park Board and the Vancouver School Board established a Joint Council on Child Care to work together to ensure the protection of existing child care services, the more efficient provision of child care services and the equitable expansion of child care across the City: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Union of BC Municipalities endorse the recommendation of the Joint Council on Child Care calling on the Government of Canada to require provinces to: 1 maintain their 2001-2002 baseline spending on child care and related early childhood development programs; and 2 use federal funds to supplement, rather than replace, provincial spending.