#1Apr 19th, 2006
Charles McVety, president of Canada Christian College, is rallying social conservatives to counter what he calls "Liberal-friendly advocacy groups." "They have a very slick, well funded, well-oiled lobby," he said in an interview. "But it's a Liberal lobby funded by the former Liberal government."
The most high-profile child-care advocates vehemently deny using Liberal or federal funds for lobbying work. They say they rely on volunteers, member donations and the Internet to get their message out.
Still, McVety is adamant that "the parade of voices" from such groups must be answered in kind.
"We're going to mobilize mothers and fathers to be vocal, exercise their franchise as a voter in democracy, call their MP and get involved as much as they can."
McVety, who also heads the Canada Family Action Coalition, says several other family-values groups will add to the effort. They include the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, the Institute for Canadian Values and REAL Women of Canada.
It's the latest volley in an escalating battle between those who support Conservative efforts to directly fund parents, and those who prefer the Liberal plan to improve child-care services across Canada.
The Tories are axing the $5-billion Liberal plan in favour of giving families $1,200 a year to spend as they wish for each child under six.
"We're going to come out very shortly with a detailed report showing the funding of organizations like the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care," McVety said.
"Sounds like a nice advocacy group. But when you look into it, where does their money come from? It comes from the former Liberal government," or from unions, he said.
"We're going to call on the government to stop funding these Liberal-friendly advocacy groups."
But Kira Heineck, executive director of the coalition, says federal funding to her group is "minimal."
"We are not funded by any political parties. We have funding from a variety of sources."
Most coalition cash comes from more than 500 members - most of them the staff of non-profit child-care centres and the parents who use them, Heineck said.
"We are a non-partisan advocacy organization that represents our members' concerns.
"It doesn't serve the interests of children to point the finger and try to marginalize us as a Liberal lobby group. It's not fair and it's not just."
"I want to talk about what's best for kids."
Funding from the federal departments for Social Development and Status of Women is being used for specific projects but not advocacy work, Heineck stressed.
Debra Mayer of the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada also denied using federal funds for anything but specific research projects.
"You really have to be showing where every penny goes," she said. "The lobbying we engage in is funded by our members. And our books are open - we're a non-profit organization.
"We're parents, we're grassroots people. It's really through peoples' volunteer time that we're able to get the work done."
Groups like hers have loudly called on the Conservatives to honour and expand the Liberal plan.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has also promised to create 125,000 new child-care spaces but has conceded that $250 million in related tax incentives "is not perfect."
Indeed, critics have pointed out that similar efforts in Ontario and New Brunswick inspired little response. Child care services are prohibitively expensive and fraught with red tape.
--
This is exactly like American B.S, I would like to see how much money these right-wing nutjobs get from Harper or U.S sponsors.
