Re: Open Letter to Minister Reid by Shelagh Germyn

I met with Ms. Germyn a year ago to discuss the issue of child care and the steps our government was taking to address the challenge being experienced across the country.

In the months that followed our meeting, we embarked on a $12.5 million capital plan to create 2,000 child care spaces. In May 2008, we announced over 100 new capital projects across B.C and, by December, nearly all will be operational. Last fall's capital investment combined with continuing support this year is creating more than 400 new spaces across Vancouver Island, including two projects that just recently opened in Tahsis and Comox.

This year, our government is investing close to $300 million in child care. Since 2001, we have created more than 6,000 new child care spaces and support nearly 89,000 spaces in about 4,600 licensed child care facilities.

One of our great successes over the past year has been in developing partnerships to create new child-care spaces. To this end, partnerships with BC Housing are well on their way to creating more than 200 spaces in existing or planned social housing developments - spaces that will, in turn, allow low-income families to access job and training opportunities knowing their children are safe and well-cared for.

We have focused resources on helping low and moderate income families by increasing the subsidy threshold from $21,000 to $38,000 --- supporting about 50,000 children and 37,000 families. We have created a multi-age child care category to allow family child care providers to increase the number of kids in their care and allow families with preschool and school aged children to attend the same centre.

Our child care plan also provides direct funding to assist in the recruitment and retention of early childhood educators. This includes operating funding, bursaries, and new pilot programs that offer up to $2500 for tuition reimbursement for early childhood educators and up to $5000 for educators to return to work in the field. Last year, we registered 800 early childhood educators bringing our provincial staffing level to more than 10,500 actively licensed educators.

The facts demonstrate the extent to which we are committed to enhancing and improving every aspect of the child care system and this is work we are committed to on an ongoing basis.

Linda Reid,

Minister of State for Child Care