Turning off the taps (en francais)

Funding research is necessary, though often enough controversial. Funding advocacy, lobbying or activism - whatever you want to call it - is not the governments job.

Congratulations to Helen Ward and all the others such as Sara at Choice for Childcare and Joanne at Joannes Journey, who have been working so hard on this issue.

Ottawa launches review of daycare group funding(subscription only)
Examination is aimed at ensuring programs are reasonable and responsible, human resources minister says

Mike De Souza, CanWest News Service
Published: Thursday, April 06, 2006

OTTAWA -- Millions of dollars worth of research grants and subsidies to public daycare advocacy groups and researchers are under review, Human Resources and Social Development Minister Diane Finley indicated Wednesday.

"We're looking at all of the programs that are funded. Not just specific ones, but we're looking at all of them to make sure they're reasonable, and it's the responsible thing to do," she said in an interview. "I think that any new government needs to review and take an inventory of what programs it's providing and what funding it's providing and say: 'Are Canadians getting value for their taxpayer dollar?'"

Finley made the comments after Conservative government officials spent several hours behind closed doors with a parents group lobbying for grants and subsidies for daycare research to be slashed.

After obtaining figures from Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office several weeks ago, the parents group has alleged advocates of public daycare are using money from government contracts to finance a campaign against the Conservatives' agenda. The Tories are trying to replace the national daycare program with a system of annual $1,200 allowances for children under six.

Helen Ward, president of the Vancouver-based Kids First Parent association of Canada, was optimistic the Conservatives had understood her concerns about funding the daycare groups.

"To me, it's part of their accountability concern," she said.

But advocacy groups and government-funded researchers were stunned by Ward's accusations.

"It's outrageous that they can make unfounded allegations -- put this stuff out there that's completely untrue, and have it appear that it's supported by the Prime Minister's Office," said Monica Lysack, executive director of the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada. "This is really, really concerning to me as a Canadian."

Someone's starting to sound nervous.