NDP leader John Horgan proposes $10-a-day childcare if elected
The provincial opposition leader says if elected, his party will implement affordable childcare across the province.
NDP leader John Horgan says he wants to make $10-a-day childcare a reality after seeing a similar system work in the private sector.
“This has revolutionized that sector of the economy and we can do that in every sector if we’ve got the will of the senior levels of government to work in partnership with communities to find appropriate locations.”
He says that this change needs to happen sooner than later.
“We can’t wait any longer. The economy is suffering. The ability of employers to retain and attract skilled people is impaired because they can’t find a place that’s affordable for their children to be cared for before they get into the K-12 system.”
Initial costs may total $1.5 billion
Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C. spokesperson Sharon Gregson says the initial investment would cost $1.5 billion over 10 years.
“That’s offset by $1.3 billion back to government in increased revenues. So now that we’ve got federal government new childcare dollars that will be flowing to B.C. starting in April 2017, we know that the $10-a-day child care plan is very affordable.”
Gregson says the plan will mostly pay for itself by allowing parents to go back to work, and the province collecting the extra income and sales taxes.
“That way, more families can participate in the work force because of course, if you have a jobs plan, you need to have a child care plan for families. So when child care is affordable, more parents, particularly mothers are able to work.”
Doubt from Ministry over plan
The Ministry of Children and Family Development say they think the plan isn’t feasible, but they support the BC Early Years Strategy which will create 13,000 new child care spaces by 2020.
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