Horgan outlined some details of his 10-year plan at a press conference on Wednesday. The first step in the plan will be to focus on acquiring more child care spaces.
“We plan by year five to have 66,000 new spaces and the $10-a-day plan, which has been advocated not by me, not by Greens, not by Liberals, but by child care providers and advocates who have been working on these issues for a decade,” said Horgan. “I believe it’s a plan that can work, and we’re going to implement it.”
In the next three years, Horgan said they hope to have created 22,000 new child care spaces, stressing the province needs more early childhood educators.
“This isn’t about babysitting, this is about preparing our children so they can be everything they possibly can, realizing their full potential,” he said.
Horgan said it is important that families in B.C. can stay in the communities they want to stay in and grow their families.
As part of its platform, the BC NDP promised to bring in an affordable child care system at a cost of $1.5 billion a year.
While Horgan would not disclose too many details about the cost of his plan, he has previously said rates would be covered through a tax on the wealthy.
“I get that people want to know what’s going to happen 10 years out but what I want to know is when can we get into the legislature, determine who the government of British Columbia is and then start building the safe, secure, affordable spaces that families need, that’s my priority,” said Horgan.
WATCH: From crisis to chaos, who will fix B.C. daycare?
Comments