Child Care Watch April 2008
OCBCC to Hold Child Care Lobby At Queen's Park
The next step for the “It’s Time for Public Child Care” campaign will be a lobby at Queen’s Park on June 2, 2008. With representatives from around the Province, we’ll ask Ontario’s three political parties about their vision for early learning and child care.
The campaign began in response to the incorporation of 123 Busy Beavers, a company linked to ABC Learning Centres of Australia- the world largest provider of corporate child care.
In Australia, corporate child care has brought about increased parent fees; poor quality and escalating public costs.
The OCBCC met with Provincial Minister Matthews to impress upon the Government
the need for legislation to curb the growth of corporate child care. We requested
an immediate moratorium on new licenses to for-profit operations and a commitment
to amending the Day Nurseries Act to direct future child care licenses to not-for-profit
providers only (current for-profit providers would be “grandparented”).
Our campaign has included forums in nine communities, thousands of people signing petitions, media attention and hosting guest lecturer Dr. Deb Brennan, an Australian researcher, who shared with us the impact of corporate child care in Australia.
In addition, NDP Critic for Children and Youth Services Andrea Horwath sponsored Bill 26 which would have directed new licenses to not-for-profit organizations.
“Its Time for Public Child Care” has demonstrated that the Province of Ontario can take action to stop the growth of for-profit corporate child care. While 123 Busy Beavers have bought eleven centres in Alberta, to date, they have not opened any centres in Ontario.
We can be proud of our efforts as we know they will not open by stealth in Ontario and that our actions may have caused the this large multi-national company to think twice, for the moment, about whether Ontario is a lucrative place for 123 Busy Beavers to expand their global corporation.