Media Release from the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC and Early Childhood Educators of BC

February 20, 2018

BC Budget 2018 – Historic New Child Care Spending Turns the Corner on BC’s Child Care Chaos

Families, Early Childhood Educators, employers and communities across BC - along with our economy – stand poised to gain from the largest child care investment in BC’s history. The 2018 BC Budget commits to over $1 billion in new federal and provincial child care funding over 3 years – enough to make substantial and measurable progress towards the high quality, affordable, accessible system detailed in the popular $10aDay Child Care Plan.

We commend the BC government for prioritizing the fiscal resources required to turn the corner, and begin addressing BC’s longstanding child care chaos.

Today, we celebrate the investment in new licensed spaces and parent fee reductions for families with young children, as recommended in the $10aDay Child Care Plan. At the same time, we call on government to ensure that their workforce development strategy includes prompt investment in improved wages for Early Childhood Educators. As the $10aDay Plan highlights, this action is essential for delivering on government’s promise of high quality in child care.  

Thousands of $10aDay supporters called on government to take the first steps to fix BC’s child care chaos, and today the BC government did just that. The Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC and the Early Childhood Educators of BC look forward to ongoing work with government as their plan unfolds.

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For the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC, contact Sharon Gregson at 604-505-5725 or Lynell Anderson at 604-313-6904

For the Early Childhood Educators of BC, contact                                                                                                            Charlene Gray at 250-218-3809 or Emily Mlieczko at 778-994-8001