April 1, 2003
Estimates Debate
Question to the Minister of Community, aboriginal and Woman's Services During Budget Estimates
R. Lee: My question is regarding health care services. In my riding one of the service providers had his budget cut by over 60 percent. I just want to see in the coming year what kind of allocation there is for child care.
Hon. L. Stephens: Are you talking about all of child care or are you talking just about Burnaby?
R. Lee: My question is in general for child care funding in the coming year compared to last year.
Hon. L. Stephens: In terms of programs, child care programs, this year we're spending $173.564 million. Last year, '02-03, we spent $184.821 million.
R. Lee: Recently, the federal government also announced some funding for child care. Will those moneys be new money going into the system in B.C.?
Hon. L. Stephens: The new funding dollars coming from the federal government that were just announced and we signed two weeks ago — that money will be coming to British Columbia. The first year is a relatively small amount. As the years go out, the dollars increase.
R. Lee: So the new funding for the new financial year from April 1, starting today, will include some of the money from the federal government. Is that correct?
Hon. L. Stephens: That is correct. The dollar amount that I just gave you does not include the federal dollars that will be coming to the province this year. It does not include that amount.
R. Lee: How much exactly do you estimate will be coming into the system in B.C. with the new federal dollars?
Hon. L. Stephens: The federal dollars that will be coming to B.C. this year are $3.25 million.
R. Lee: My question is, coming back to Burnaby: what kind of budget is there for Burnaby for the coming year?
Hon. L. Stephens: The member asked the amount of money that's coming to Burnaby. We allocate funds based on application. We don't have, at this time, all of the applications from Burnaby to give the member that particular number. If he cares to be more specific, we may be able to help him there.
R. Lee: One service provider in my constituency, which has been running four child care facilities in Burnaby, had his funding reduced from over $400,000 — it's about $430,000, to be exact — to under $160,000.
This is a big reduction. I would like get some explanation on that kind of reduction.
Hon. L. Stephens: The Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion, I'm presuming, is the organization you're speaking of. They operate 12th Avenue Out of School Care, Brentwood Park Plus Out of School Care Centre, Variety Hotelier House Children's Centre and Fair Haven Children's Centre. This particular organization has received, in the past, a significant amount of money: $575,585. This year, because the Munroe funding will not proceed…. The Munroe payments came to an end as of yesterday, as a matter of fact. That particular organization will receive now, under the new capital funding, $154,788 approximately.
This particular organization was funded very, very, very generously by the previous administration. As we looked at the child care programs across the province generally, there were a lot of inequities. This one was probably the one that was most glaring.
What we have done…. When we looked at providing a stable, predictable funding base for providers and making sure the funding was equitable across the province, we made changes to the operating funding, and we've increased the operating funding in terms of the compensation contribution program. What they were receiving in the past for the compensation contribution program was $89,535. They're going to receive a fairly substantial increase in terms of that program, which helped to pay for staffing as well. However, their big reduction does come from the termination of the Munroe agreement payments.
R. Lee: My understanding is that for the termination of the Munroe agreement, the reduction is between 20 and 30 percent in terms of wages. Yet the reduction for funding for this particular organization is over 60 percent. I have some problems in understanding the rationale behind that.
Hon. L. Stephens: The Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion also has a funding assistance program. They were part of the out-of-school-care universal program of the previous administration as well. That program also came to an end as of yesterday. They received about $50,885 through that program. Those child care centres that have a combination of the out-of-school-care programs and the Munroe funding may see a fairly substantial loss in terms of those two programs coming to an end. However, what has been taking place in the other child care centres is that the negotiations between the employers and the employees have been ongoing and have been quite successful in a number of centres in order for them to continue to provide child care spaces and services.
In terms of the funding assistance program, the before- and after-school programs, again, the additional funding to the compensation contribution program does compensate for the loss of the funding for the out-of-school programs. So the fundamental issue that this particular centre has to resolve is the labour negotiations to replace the Munroe funding agreements.
R. Lee: I understand that some of the staff are leaving because of the difficulties in getting "reasonable wages." And those are very specialized child care workers who have a lot of knowledge in early childhood development and child care skills. How can the centre operate with a limited number of well-qualified child care workers?
Hon. L. Stephens: Many of the employees who work in the child care centres have their early childhood education certificate, and it is a college level of training. We are certainly supportive and want to encourage all workers who are in child care centres to develop their level of expertise as highly as they can. Child care centres are run, predominantly, by non-profit agencies or private operators. As such, they are the sole employer of personnel and make the decisions around the level of employee remuneration and benefits and so on. We have no relationship with the employees. The employers are those who are responsible for reaching those kinds of agreements.
That's not to say that we do not have the ability to make the regulations and the standards of care in terms of licensing, and that is what we do. However, the relationship between the remuneration and the benefits for employees is out of our hands; it is up to the employers in those centres to make those kinds of arrangements.
R. Lee: My last question, I think, is regarding the well-qualified child care workers. A comment. I heard you say some of them are moving to higher pay in the $20 range of hourly wages. They are moving to other jobs, so there is a problem in recruiting and retaining the workers right now. So I think my question is: how can we provide more training to workers in early childhood development so that more workers will be available in the system?
Hon. L. Stephens: There is a need for highly skilled child care workers in the child care centres. We're going to be working with the quality enhancement initiative that we're going to be bringing forward, which will help to do that and will help to provide some enhanced level of educational opportunities and the licence-not-required sector, as well. However, it is still the responsibility of the employer to employ their staff and pay them the appropriate wages that they deem necessary. We, as I said, are not involved — nor will we be — in any contract negotiations between employers and employees.
