December 3, 2002

50% Increase means Child Care Cuts

The Campbell government has applied its "New Speak" tactics to child care. Funny numbers in the government news release took the 72,000 child care spaces down to 45,000 and then claimed that putting it back to 70,000 is an increase of more than 50%. In the language of Christy Clark, those who meet expectations for arithmetic would say that junior minister, Lynn Stephens lost 2,000 spaces. However, the Ministry's "service plan" claimed there were 73,000 licensed child care spaces so the loss after the "more than 50% increase" would be 3,000.

The government news release says "More than 1,400 licensed family and group child-care providers will be eligible for government funding for the first time. The number of government-supported child-care spaces will increase from 45,000 to 70,000." Perhaps Stephens should read the 2001/02 Annual Report (pdf) that she signed. Her letter at the beginning of that report said "Our funding for child care providers supported more than 72,000 licensed child care spaces throughout the province."

Stephens' letter referencing 72,000 child care spaces was dated June 28, 2002. She also signed a "service plan", dated February 5, 2002 that said there are 73,000 licensed child care spaces in BC. That means the Campbell government lost 1,000 spaces between February and June before dropping another 2,000 spaces between June and November when the new program was announced with its misleading claims of more spaces.

A correction to government's backgrounder on its childcare announcement said "Under the new operating funding program, eligible licensed providers of family care will receive an average of $31 per child per month for children in Grade 1 and up." It looks like government needed to correct more than its numbers on average payments for family care.

$31 might be enough to pay a babysitter on New Year's Eve but it is not likely to go far in paying for a month of childcare. In a news release that serves as an example of Orwellian New Speak, Stephens claimed the program budget will be $48 million for 2003/04 and that budget "will increase the number of government-supported spaces by over 50 per cent." The 2002/03 budget estimates provided $81.362 million for child care. It is not clear whether the Campbell government will provide other child care programs with the difference between that budget and the $48 million for the new program. The resource section of the "service plan" for the Ministry of Community, Aboriginal and Women's Services is supposed to provide a three year outlook. It lumped child care into "other" and shows "other" as decreasing from $205.599 million in 2002/03 to $134.958 million in 2004/05. That cut of 34% is likely to apply to child care since it represents 40% of the "other" category.

The new program becomes effective April 1, 2003. According to a government website, it will replace (by cutting) the Compensation Contribution Program, the Infant/Toddler Incentive Grant Program, and the Out-of-School Care Transition Funding Program. Since April 1, 1998, the Compensation Contribution Program helped group child care programs to attract and keep staff by supplementing the wages of child care providers, and covering the extra costs associated with infant/toddler care. The Infant/Toddler Incentive helped licensed family child care providers with the extra costs associated with caring for infants and toddlers by providing $3 per day per occupied space (maximum two full-time infant/toddler spaces). The new program falls $33 million short of the previous budget for child care. Government needs to account for that difference.