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CUPE warns trade rules could be used to block universal public system
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International trade rules could prevent Canada from ever setting up a universal non-profit child-care system if foreign daycare chains get a bigger toehold here, says the country's largest public service union.
A legal opinion prepared for the Canadian Union of Public Employees, released yesterday, warns there are risks if Ottawa does not limit foreign corporations &em; like Australia's ABC Learning Centres Ltd. &em; from buying up small child-care operators in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario.
International trade lawyer Steven Shrybman says that under NAFTA rules, foreign investors, if they become significant players as daycare providers, would be able to challenge future "public policy" efforts by governments to regulate or expand child care.
"If foreign investors establish a commercial presence in the sector, Canada's claim to the protection afforded by a key NAFTA exception for social services is weakened," Shrybman wrote.
A company linked to ABC Learning Centres &em; the world's largest multinational child-care chain &em; has bought several Alberta daycares and made offers for centres in B.C. and Ontario.
Right now, governments can limit or ban foreign investment in child care and "preserve future policy options," he said. They can require a child-care centre to hire locally, provide service to a particular region as a condition of its licence, or ensure that parents and members of the local community comprise a majority of the board of directors.
But if federal and provincial governments do not exercise their right to regulate foreign corporations, those companies will be in a position to sue for damages if future government measures "impinge on those investments."
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Human Resources Minister Monte Solberg said it is entirely up to provincial governments "to decide who they license" and not a federal responsibility.
Given the "lack of direction" from the current federal government on child care, "the prudent course for provincial governments would be to restrict foreign investment in the child-care sector," said Shrybman.
"If they fail to do that, the future of child-care services in Canada may well be determined not by communities or by governments, but by private tribunals meeting behind closed-door meetings in proceedings at World Bank headquarters in Washington, because that's where these disputes will be resolved."
CUPE head Paul Moist and child-care worker Shellie Bird, of the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, said the opinion should encourage Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion and others in the Commons to support an NDP-sponsored bill to curb the spread of private daycare chains. Bill C-303 awaits a third and final vote in the Commons.
- reprinted from the Toronto Star