MEDIA RELEASE: Child Care Advocates Call for B.C. Task Force on $10aDay Child Care Expansion.
We understand that BC and Canada face significant economic uncertainties caused by threatened US tariffs. However, this is not a valid rationale for any further delay in government delivering on its $10aDay child care promises.
Premier Eby has committed to strengthen B.C.’s economy by expediting projects and supporting industry and workers. In addition, government has prioritized increasing access to doctors and other health care professionals.
Increasing access to high quality $10aDay child care across the province is essential to achieving these objectives. Workers need child care!
“We have signalled for some time that progress on BC’s $10aDay child care system has stalled” said Sharon Gregson, $10aDay advocate and Spokesperson. “Now BC has an economic imperative to fast-track child care expansion to meet the needs of families, workers and businesses. Even Alberta is establishing a standard $15/day parent fee, province-wide.”
This is why B.C needs a $10aDay Expansion Task Force now, made up of experienced community $10aDay child care operators and key provincial child care and Indigenous organizations, to advise government on two urgent initiatives:
- A capital infrastructure project to construct prefabricated high-quality child care centres – as gov’t is doing for K-12 classrooms. Using BC products and labour will provide multiple economic, social and environmental benefits. Located on public land, these energy-efficient facilities will support new jobs created from fast-tracking recently-announced resource projects.
- Fast-tracking expansion of $10aDay Child Care with an Operating Funding Model that caps parent fees at $10aDay and provides educators with a fair wage. This will require streamlining the current administrative overburden experienced by $10aDay child care organizations.
Now is the time for the B.C. government to deliver on its $10aDay promises, supporting our economy, enabling parents to participate in the workforce and significantly reducing families’ cost of living.