DAVID Eby said on Saturday that he and a re-elected BC NDP government will invest $80 million in new funding to create 7,200 new before- and after-school spaces on school grounds, plus an additional $250 million to deliver a major expansion of universal child care in partnership with the federal government.
“For parents, finding childcare that fits their budget and work schedule makes all the difference. Delivering more spaces in schools will make drop-offs and pick-ups easier, give kids a familiar place to be, and make better use of public facilities,” said Eby, BC NDP Leader.
“[BC Conservative Leader] Lorne Doerkson won’t say what he’ll cut to pay for billions in uncosted promises, and the Conservatives won’t say whether they’d roll back our cap on child care fee increases. Make no mistake, working families would pay the price for Conservative cuts and higher costs.”
The BC NDP said it’s fee reduction initiative has reduced average child care fees by more than half – saving families about $7,200 a year. Scrapping the cap on fee increases or reducing subsidies would cost parents thousands of dollars a year. The BC Conservatives have long opposed the cap and have said nothing this campaign whether they still do. They have also called government-funded child care an “attempt to reshape” the role of parents in their children’s lives.
The party said that Eby fought to make childcare a central part of the historic Canada-BC Prosperity Agreement. The agreement sets a December 1 deadline for BC and Canada to renegotiate their funding agreements to make sure child care in BC has stable, adequate resources. Eby will continue working with Prime Minister Mark Carney to invest in more affordable spaces, support the workers, and ensure quality care.
On child care, Eby will:
- Expand school-based child care: Add 7,200 before- and after-school spaces on school grounds to give more families access to seamless child care in places they already know and trust. This will be supported by $80 million to fund startup costs, renovations, and ongoing costs.
- Strengthen universal child care: Committing $250 million in new provincial dollars to leverage federal funding in the negotiations and work with the federal government and the childcare sector to:
- Improve wages and working conditions for early childhood educators, including a provincial wage grid;
- Expand the number of affordable child care spaces; and
- Bring in a hard, universal fee cap like Ontario.
This builds on the BC NDP’s work to:
- Create 64,000 new child care spaces in B.C. – an increase of 50%.
- Cut child care fees by more than half, from an average of $47 per day to $19 per day, and save families tens of thousands of dollars a year on child care costs.
- Boost hourly wages for Early Childhood Educators to nearly $30 an hour, recognizing the importance of this critical workforce.
Karen Ranalletta, President, CUPE BC, said: “The BC NDP government took childcare seriously when others wouldn’t. Since 2018, they’ve cut parents’ fees by about half on average, and opened tens of thousands of new spaces. Seamless before- and after-school childcare builds on that: fewer drop-offs for parents, fewer transitions for kids, and steadier, full-time hours for the existing education workers who support kids during the day.
“The Conservatives have offered families nothing but silence and a tax credit idea from their childcare critic. A tax credit doesn’t build a single space. David Eby and the BC NDP are building care into school districts, and that’s what our members, our communities, and the families we serve have been asking for.”
