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B.C. stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars if Ottawa cancels a promised national child-care program, says provincial Finance Minister Carole Taylor.
She made the comment yesterday as a pair of B.C. cabinet ministers lobbied Ottawa to preserve a $5-billion child-care plan advanced by the former federal Liberals. It was worth $633 million to B.C.
But Taylor said the situation is not all gloomy: "There are a number of areas where we think we have a very good chance of bringing in some extra dollars."
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Taylor's budget of a week ago banked on the status quo with the Liberal child-care deal, which has been officially killed. Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has notified the provinces that the Tories will cancel the agreements as of next March.
Figures released by Victoria yesterday suggest B.C. will have received $177.6 million of an expected $633 million by the end of the program.
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Linda Reid, B.C.'s minister of state for child care, came out of a meeting in Ottawa yesterday suggesting the $1,200 won't go far in paying for daycare. Reid and Family Development Minister Stan Hagen argued for a larger program during their hour-long meeting with Diane Finley, the new federal human resources minister.
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Finley agreed to visit B.C. in June, but it appeared from Reid's account that the Tory minister was sticking to her government's policy.
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- reprinted from the Vancouver Province