Throughout 16 years in government, the BC Liberals could have chosen to make quality child care available and affordable across the province. Instead, they allowed the crisis to grow, particularly over the last four years. While parent fees skyrocketed, the BC Liberal Government consistently underspent their child care budget. They secured only 4,300 of the 13,000 new spaces promised by 2020, leaving 80% of BCs 570,000 children with no access to child care. Yet, the BC Liberals election platform currently suggests they’ll keep building another 8,000 (or 9,000) unaffordable spaces, which doesn’t even keep pace with population growth, in order to reach their old 2020 goal.

Standing in stark contrast, the $10aDay Child Care Plan’s proposed implementation schedule creates 22,500 new spaces by 2020, serving 30,000 more children and making child care affordable for 45,000 families.

The $10aDay Plan was developed in response to the growing child care crisis in BC. It provides governments and all political parties with a broadly-supported vision for child care, and a roadmap for achieving it. Supporters represent more than 2 million British Colombians, including: 47 local governments and 31 school districts; the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, Metis Commission, United Way of the Lower Mainland, Vancity, Surrey Board of Trade and a broad range of community organizations province-wide; medical health officers, labour groups, businesses, academics, and over 15,000 individuals.

“Our supporters know that it will take time to build a high quality, affordable child care system in BC by lowering parent fees, training early childhood educators and creating enough spaces for all who choose them”

“Our supporters know that it will take time to build a high quality, affordable child care system in BC by lowering parent fees, training early childhood educators and creating enough spaces for all who choose them” states $10aDay spokesperson Sharon Gregson. “They want a government who will prioritize child care on May 10. A new government can immediately lower parent fees in all licensed infant/toddler spaces to $10aDay, making child care affordable for 15,000 families.”

The BC NDP adopted the $10aDay Plan in their election platform, along with related funding commitments for the first three years of implementation. The BC Green Party incorporated elements of the Plan in their commitment of significant funds to make child care more available and affordable in BC, although their implementation details are less clear.

Unfortunately, it appears that some BC Liberal candidates have not yet read the $10aDay Plan, and absorbed its multiple economic analyses, given the mischaracterizations in recent media stories.

“We encourage all BC Liberal candidates to become familiar with the $10aDay Child Care Plan, as it’s important to so many families that they hope to represent” Gregson suggested. “There's still time for the BC Liberals to absorb the severity of the child care crisis across BC, and make a concrete commitment to address it."

For more information about the $10aDay Child Care Plan, see http://www.10aday.ca/resources