Supporters of $10-a-day daycare in B.C. are calling out the NDP government, accusing it of abandoning its promises.
Advocates for the program said the recent provincial budget contained no increase in spending for the program.
They say there was also no mention of funding for B.C. Premier David Eby’s promise of more child care in schools.
They also said that only 10 per cent of families have $10-a-day child care and 74 per cent of B.C.’s children have no licensed daycare.
“We’ve seen that the commitments are not being upheld, we’ve seen progress come to pretty much a stop, we’ve seen election commitments not fulfilled, and we’re seeing families frustrated and desperate and educators still underpaid,” Sharon Gregson with the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C. told Global News.
B.C.’s minister of education and child care, Lisa Beare, said the government is on target to meet its goals.
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“We’re on track to meet our $10-a-day targets of 20,000 spaces by next spring,” she said.
“We’re at 16,000 right now. Just last week, I announced 770 new spaces, so that means there’s a couple thousand more to be announced over the coming months.”
Gregson said that $10-a-day daycare is “life-changing” for B.C.’s families but it is currently too much like a lottery program.
“The promise was a $10-a-day child care system,” she added. Absolutely, that was the commitment. That was the commitment back in the 2017 election, the 2020 election, that’s what people voted for.
“And now, those families who are paying more than 10 a day are waiting to get to 10 a day and there are too many families, 75 per cent of all families, with young children who don’t have access to any licensed child care at all, at any price.”
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