B.C. opens door to child care mesa corp

Community Action, Nov 19, 2007

The province of British Columbia appears to have opened itself (and Canada) wide to approaches by a giant Australian-based child care provider.

Minister of State for Child Care Linda Read announced the intention to provide 2,000 child care spaces in the province. In order to achieve this goal, the province will offer capital funding for day care spaces provided by private sector child care centre operators. Within a few days, the Adroit Investments LLC and 123-Global sent invitations to negotiate the purchase of child care spaces to private, licensed child care operators in British Columbia and within weeks similar offers were made to for-profit centres in Alberta and Ontario.

The Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C. released information showing the offers are coming from Canadian agents of ABC Learning Centres, an Australian centre that has bought, and now operates child care centres in Australia, U.S., Britain, Hong Kong, Indonesia and other countries. The parent firm earned profits of CAN$123 million last year. In the space of one year, it purchased 1,100 child care centres in the U.S. It does not currently operate any centres in Canada.

ABC Learning Centres started in the 1980s and became a child care enterprise giant after the Australian government enabled ABC to obtain capital grants and other public subsidies for its operations, similar to those announced by the BC government.

ABC controls almost half the child care spaces in Australia. It is subject to wide-spread criticism for the quality for its staff, programs and the adequacy of facilities.

The provincial government's move was warmly welcomed by the Provincial Child Care Council, which speaks for private operators. Co-chair Amy Coilum says the move increases child care options for families and is an excellent step forward in making more child care spaces available.

The British Columbia Government and Service Employees' Union expressed concern that ABC is trying to corner the market on child care in the province with an offer to buy for-profit child care.

ABCs campaign to purchase child care centres has emerged in Alberta and Ontario, provinces that provide funding only for child care services offered by municipal and nonprofit child care services. Ontario has not indicated that it would assist private operations with public money, while the matter might be opened in Alberta.

Manitoba and Saskatchewan have clearly limited the role of for-profit child care and licence child care spaces only in community-based centres.

--Mega corp.