Now, the new Conservative government has cancelled these agreements, cutting $4 billion in federal funds for child care. Without federal funding, many provincial plans to improve and expand child care will barely, if ever, get off the ground.

The dream of a community-based early learning and care program for all children, regardless of whether their parents are at home or in the workforce, has been 30 years in the making. Now, it could all evaporate.

Canadians are in desperate need of quality child care programs. The Conservative promise of a $1,200 a year family allowance is not enough.

Families need income support, and they need quality early learning and child care services too. The Government of Canada can and should do both. As a society, we cannot afford not to.

Please add your name to the long list of Canadians who support public investment in child care by signing the open letter on child care at www.buildchildcare.ca . Do it today, for the future that Canadian families deserve.

Hayley Wickenheiser, a gold medal mom (and hockey player) who led Canadian women to victory at the Olympic Games has signed the CODE BLUE open letter on child care along with the more than 22,000 Canadians who have signed the letter since February 24.

City councils, school boards, regional health boards, and a Toronto community housing organization are some of the concerned bodies that have passed resolutions urging the federal Conservatives to honour the child care agreements signed last year. At a symposium in Toronto on March 13, the YWCA Canada released a report that shows Canadians strongly believe in the value of early childhood services and programs.

Ottawa (14 March 2006) — More than 75 trade union leaders and activists from six countries will gather in Ottawa this week, under the umbrella of the Public Services International (PSI), to foster alliances and develop a coordinated agenda to prevent the privatization of public services.

“Many governments around the world are in the midst of turning control of public services over to large corporations,” says Nycole Turmel, National President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC). “The public is paying a huge price for this privatization in terms of less quality, less access and less accountability.”

The three-day conference, being held at the Westin Hotel in downtown Ottawa from 14-16 March, will provide a forum to share and evaluate recent union campaigns against privatization and to develop a coordinated trade union agenda in the fight for quality public services.

Representatives from Belize, Canada, Norway, South Africa, the United States, and the United Kingdom will be attending the conference.

“This conference is important because it’s a chance to learn from experiences in other countries and plan how we can work together across borders to push back privatization,” says Paul Moist, National President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). “We’ll be talking a lot about strategy and tactics, but we know that proposing ways to make quality public services even better is fundamental to our success–so there’ll be lots of discussion about this as well.”

Delivering the keynote address for the conference is Greg Palast, the multi-award winning investigative journalist and author of the New York Times bestseller, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and the book Democracy and Regulation: How the Public can Govern Essential Services.

“Mr. Palast will be delivering the critical message that we’re not fighting just for our members’ jobs or for quality public services, as important as they are, but we’re also fighting to defend democracy,” says James Clancy, National President of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE). “We cannot and will not sit idly by as the essential public services that provide the foundation for our democracy are shifted to the private sector for profit rather than progress.”

Re: Labour pains, March 1.

The Citizen rightly claims that the Public Service Alliance of Canada “endorsed a number of separatist candidates in the Pontiac, despite the fact that the union represents workers whose livelihood depends on a strong federal government.” However, poll after poll suggests that about 25 per cent of Bloc Quebecois supporters are federalists.

The reason is that the Bloc is proactive and progressive on a range of issues, from pay equity to anti-scab legislation to child care. On the basis of its strong support for social, human and labour rights alone, it gets support from workers and their families.

And while the leadership of the Bloc supports separation for Quebec, this is an issue that will not be decided in a federal election.

Workers and businesses in the area should be more concerned about the Citizen editorial board’s support of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) which, in the words of the editorial, is “regularly putting forward serious policy proposals.”

The Harper government and the CCCE, and by implication the Citizen, endorse the concept of a fiscal imbalance between the federal and provincial governments, a notion that I and my union reject. I suggest that your acknowledgement of a fiscal imbalance and lack of support for measures to ameliorate it will do more to undermine workers and businesses, including the Citizen, whose livelihoods depend more on a strong federal government than on the endorsement and democratic election of a Bloc MP.

Nycole Turmel, Ottawa, PSAC National President

FROM: Nycole Turmel

RE: Alternate REVP BC

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

The ballots in the elections to the above-noted position have been counted and Kay Sinclair received a majority.

Therefore, I declare Sister Kay Sinclair the new Alternate Regional Executive Vice-President for the BC Region.

Congratulations Kay!

In Solidarity, Nycole Turmel, National President

RE: Cyclical Review Schedule – PSAC Dental Plan

Consultations regarding changes to the PSAC Dental Plan will begin shortly.

We already have a number of demands, including raised yearly maximums, use of current fee guide and decreased deductibles.

If you have any suggestions for changes to the Plan other than those above, please send them to my office as soon as possible. I will then forward them to the PSAC representative on the Dental Board.

Thank you for your cooperation.

In Solidarity, Nycole Turmel, National President