Choose child care over tax cuts in budget, CUPE urges province

[Sep 22, 2006 02:35 PM]

For Immediate Release:
April 4, 2006

REGINA: The Saskatchewan Division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees is urging the provincial government to choose child care and other social priorities over business tax cuts when it unveils its budget later this week.

"Providing quality child care and early learning opportunities for the children of working families should be a bigger priority than trying to appease the vocal business lobby with further tax cuts," said Tom Graham, president of CUPE Saskatchewan. "The provincial government cannot plead poverty when it comes to funding child care and then turn around and slash corporate taxes by hundreds of millions of dollars."

After the new Conservative federal government announced its plans to scrap the child care funding agreements with the provinces, the provincial government said it would have to implement its child care plans more slowly and hold off on its proposed universal pre-kindergarten program.

But Graham said it would cost much less for the province to cover the lost federal funding than to implement the recommendations of the Business Tax Review Committee headed by Jack Vicq. The province's child care deal with the federal government would have provided $146 million in funding over five years, while the Vicq Committee's proposals would cost much more - at least $180 million each year.

A 2004 University of Toronto study found that only 4.9% of Saskatchewan children under 12 years old had access to regulated child care spaces - the lowest rate in the country. "Not only is the provision of quality child care and early learning a more pressing priority than corporate tax cuts, it also makes more economic sense," the CUPE Saskatchewan president said. He pointed to a study that shows benefits of $2 in productivity gains for every dollar spent on child care.

Graham commended members of the Saskatchewan legislative assembly for voting unanimously in favour of a motion last month to express "dissatisfaction" with the federal Conservatives' plan to cancel the child care agreements.

"The Calvert government needs to keep up the pressure on the Harper government to honour the child care agreements negotiated with the provinces, but it also needs to lead by example. Our province led the way with the introduction of hospitalization insurance and Medicare. The federal government was later convinced to share the costs of these programs and expand them across the country. Saskatchewan certainly has the fiscal resources to do the same now with child care."

CUPE Saskatchewan will also be looking for pay equity to be included in the budget. Given Saskatchewan's improved financial picture, Graham said there are no excuses left for not implementing pay equity legislation - something the NDP promised during the 1991 provincial election. The latest statistics show that Saskatchewan women working full-time in Saskatchewan earned an average of $11,400 less than their male counterparts.

The CUPE Saskatchewan president also said the provincial government should use its surging energy revenues to make reinvestments in existing public services and introduce new programs like a pharmacare program to tackle the rising costs of prescription drugs.

CUPE represents over 26,000 public sector workers in Saskatchewan who work at health care facilities, municipalities, school boards, universities, libraries and community-based organizations.

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For more information contact:
Tom Graham 229-8171

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