Good morning Ontario Liberals....

[Fun&care]

Maybe some sort of website would be nice too where we could all group together and get info from...like someone said it sorta feels like we are all a bit scattered right now. It would be nice too if there was a provider willing to be sort of a "leader" for us all and represent and be the face of our " campaign"....I would be willing to strike although I would feel like a bit of a jerk to my clients but sometimes you do what you gotta do...especially when it comes to keeping ones job!

[cfred]

I would think that clients who value us would, in the end, understand why it was necessary. But, first things first....there's a discussion on Providers Against Bill 143 on FB. I would suggest that if you haven't already done so, go on and have your say. There's a thread right now discussing things we want, opposed to things we don't want. I agree that this is our first approach....get a draft together and send it to everyone....MPPs in our favour especially. A strike would be a later on kind of thing.

[bright sparks]

Would some of you mind keeping the forum up to date with any major important points on FB as I'm not on there and I'm not joining. I'd be willing to strike and go to Ottawa and I'd be more than willing to take an active role in organizing something and getting the message out there to providers in my region. ..thanks ladies. I can't vote and still being a relatively new resident of the country I don't know the liberals or any other parties histories although I think it's fair to say that pretty much every political party BS'S and doesn't follow through on their campaign promises. Such is the world of politics

[CrazyEight]

I love the idea of a strike, I just wonder if I could actually DO it...I am such a people-pleaser I'd feel incredibly guilty leaving my families in the lurch...are people thinking of all going to queen's park or up to Ottawa or just going to their own city's government? There aren't that many "legit" providers here, I'd want to try and meet up with some of you in a bigger city.

[cfred]

I think the idea for a strike would be later. I think we write in again and see if we can't get our voices heard. Try to approach MPPs again for meetings, etc. If it still looks like it's going through, then I think we organize a day to close our doors for the day unannounced. Don't want to pull out the big guns right off....what have we got left then? And really, it's better to wait till summer's over. Loads of people on vacation, etc right now. After Labour Day would be much more effective, IMO. Sure, Bright Sparks, I'll put stuff on as it comes up.

[playfelt]

Not in favour of the strike option because we have no union to then back us up. One day is just going to annoy people not solve anything. It will actually give the government more fuel for the plan to do away with us annoying people in favour of provincially run daycare centres - that would have more job security in the sense of stays open with administrators if teachers strike in some cases. We could actually be hurting ourselves by taking this step.

One of the things I posted on the facebook site and yes if you aren't a member now is a good time to become one is that while I agree that the rules should be the same for private and agency why not change the agency rules to be more like us instead - or more likely something more in the middle. There are no hard and fast rules if you look around the country on what the age mix should be. Also the age mix is as old as the DNA meaning it was done prior to the one year mat leave and no longer reflects the fact kids don't enter care as babies that need bottles and rocking, etc. Just as the age mix needing daycare has changed so should the age mix allowed in a daycare home private or agency.

Of course the other thing to argue for is the disbanding of the agency system itself and make ALL caregivers private. Then use the agency trained personal to be support/inspectors for home daycares which is something we would have to agree to.

There are compromises we can make and instead of just being against everything we need to take a positive approach so we do stand a chance of getting an audience with whoever will be the minister of education for each party to present our proposal. Even if we don't get all of what is in it realize those reading it have no idea of what our job entails so it is also a way to educate them. Ideally they will ask why we think it should be one way compared to the way the old way was.

There was a website started against bill 143. That could totally be revamped now to be "instead of bill 143 Ontario toddlers need".

[sandylynn]

can someone sum this whole thing in a nut shell

[Momof4]

can someone sum this whole thing in a nut shell

In a nutshell, the Liberals introduced Bill 143 last year after some deaths at Ontario daycares. Liz Sandals proposed it to make as many home daycares as possible join agencies and be licenced, therefore handing over 1/3 of your income to the agency for no reason that I can see. Some people find them helpful.

However, you can remain unlicenced and keep your entire income, but with the rule of 2 children under age 2, 5 children maximum as usual. Unless you have your own children, then they are counted in the total of 5. So if you have 2 children of your own, you can only have 3 daycare children.

So if you join an agency and hand over all your hard earned money you can have a total of 6 children including your own, but (someone correct me if I'm wrong on this) you can only have 2 children under 2 and 3 children under 3.

Now the bill will be reintroduced and the NDP's & Conservatives cannot stop it since the Liberals now have a majority. It will happen. A lot of home daycare providers are going to close their doors because they can't make a proper living any longer. There will be a shortage for thousands of 1 year old babies next year. It's going to completely change the way things operate in the entire daycare field.

We started petitions and letter writing to our MPP's last year and we will have to start doing that again now. There are entire facebook groups dedicated to beating this subject to death, but I don't waste my time with it. I agree with the people who say we need to come up with a plan to unite together as a large group and let the government know that we are intelligent, hard working women. At least the great majority of us are that.

If the government spent all their time and money closing down the illegal daycares that are over in numbers, playing "babysitter" and not running proper home daycares, that would make sense. By punishing all of us, they are punishing the parents of Ontario, but they won't figure that out until next year as I mentioned.

That's as nutshell as I could put it sandylynn, hope that helps!

[sandylynn]

Thanks for your explanation...I will assume when they say "2 under 2"...the children have had to have hit their 2nd birthday ....just as it works for airlines when they say "free for children 2 and under"....ie, as soon as a child hits their 2nd birthday....they are no longer UNDER 2...so if a child in daycare has already turned 2....they don't count as a child "UNDER 2"....CORRECT? Am I making sense?

[cfred]

Playfelt, I absolutely agree with your points in this post. Yes, we need to focus more on what we want and be more positive and productive in our approach to the powers that be. I also agree with the disbanding of agencies and redistribution of those roles under a new licensing system. However, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. It is my hope that with proactive involvement from a good many of us, that we can get some notice from the public and government and actually get some of what we are asking for. However, if we take all the right measures and do it all by the book in a proactive way only to have it fall on deaf ears repeatedly, I'm not sure we have many options to make people sit up and take notice. If 143 looks as though it's going to steamroll ahead in it's current form, with our efforts not being taken into account at all toward the final outcome, a one day strike is a powerful message to make everyone sit up, take notice and recognize that we are very substantial in numbers and dramatically impact our province's economic health, by allowing everyone else to do their jobs. I have no doubt it would annoy people and it might be frowned upon. I'd like to think that most of us have clients who appreciate us and may understand the necessity of such an action. What is this going to give the government more fuel for? The fact is that we have 80% of the market. Unless they've got the cash in hand to open 10 new daycare centres in every city, I'd suggest there's not a lot they can do about it except open their eyes and realize that they do, in fact, need us, so let's maybe see what those unregulated providers have to say. No one's a bigger people pleaser than me. I hate the thought of doing something like that, but as a last resort if that legislation is going to pass without amendments, I'm not sure what else could send a clearer message about what this bill means.