MINISTER of State for Childcare Katrina Chen, reacting to BC Liberal MLA Laurie Throness’ news release on childcare spaces, issued the following statement to The VOICE:

“OUR government is dedicated to making inclusive universal child care a reality in BC. For too long, child care was too unaffordable and inaccessible for families. Unlike the old government, we’ve been focused on fixing that.

“I’m proud to say that since July 2018, we have funded more than 10, 400 new spaces and just over 2,000 are now open to parents. That means almost 140 new licensed child care spaces a month are currently being opened throughout the province, with more being approved each week.

“The critic knows the claims he’s making aren’t accurate. It took the old government 4 years to fund 4,312 new spaces. We funded that many in less than a year.

“Fixing the problems created by the old government won’t happen overnight, but we’re making progress. In fact, we estimate that around 1,600 more spaces will be open for parents in the next 6 months. We will keep working hard to make child care more affordable and accessible for families.”