WHEREAS quality and affordable child care is an essential service in the community that requires ongoing funding stability to effectively serve children and families, including: a Child Care Resource and Referral Centres, which enhance the accessibility and quality of child care by helping families locate child care and providing training, resource materials and other support services to child care providers; b Child care providers, which require sufficient operating funding to provide quality, affordable child care; and c Major capital funding, to increase the availability of child care spaces; AND WHEREAS the Province has reduced funding to: i the Child Care Resource and Referral Centre Program by 35 effective April 1, 2007; ii the Child Care Operating Fund, resulting in the loss to child care providers of an average of 40.00 per month per child; and iii Major capital grants for the creation of a new child care privacy: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Union of BC Municipalities urge the provincial government, for the long term, to provide ongoing effective increasing stable child care funding and, in the short term, to fully restore annual funding to 2006 levels for the Child Care Resource and Referral Program, the Child Care Operating Fund and major capital funding programs.
