An Open Letter to the Hon. Deb Matthews
Minister of Children and Youth Services
Minister Responsible for Women’s Issues
February 6, 2009
The Hon. Ms Deb Matthews:
Yesterday we learned that 22,000 child care spaces across
Ontario – including 6,000 in Toronto alone – will be lost because funding
from the federal government will run out in 2010.
This is not entirely surprising. Since its election to
government in 2006, the federal Conservatives under Prime Minister Stephen
Harper have repeatedly turned their back on the needs of women, working
families and children across Canada. That the federal government is walking
away from its responsibility to fund a national child care program is par
for the course with the current government in Ottawa.
What is truly shocking is the silence coming from your
government as we face the loss of 22,000 child care spaces in Ontario – and
the crisis this will create for thousands of families.
Your appointment as Minister responsible for Children and
Youth Services and Minister Responsible for Women’s Issues was greeted with
optimism in 2007. The government at the time appeared sincere in its
obligation to meet the child care needs of the people of Ontario.
You can imagine our profound disappointment with the fact
that Queen’s Park appears unwilling to address the negligence of the federal
government. Instead of the sound of a provincial government taking bold
action to address the child care shortfall caused by Ottawa, all we hear
today is silence.
This is not nearly good enough. In fact, it is
irresponsible.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union represents
thousands of employees in the OPS and in the broader public sector who work
closely with children and their parents and guardians. Our members know from
first-hand experience that properly-funded child care is a critical
component in the healthy development of young people.
We know the burden that is lifted from the backs of working
parents when their children are cared for professionally and safely. Without
a properly funded child care program in Ontario, too many parents will be
forced to leave the workforce to care for their children – or worse, seek
social assistance to make up for the loss of wages.
In the absence of federal funding I urge your government to
pick up the financial shortfall and guarantee that money will be designated
to prevent the loss of 22,000 child care spaces. To do so is to acknowledge
that child care is every bit a part of the economic recovery program
promised by your government.
Sincerely
Patty Rout
First Vice-President/Treasurer
