Comparing government’s Child Care BC commitments with the community’s $10aDay Plan
IN AN HISTORIC BREAKTHROUGH for BC children and families, Budget 2018 commits over $1 billion in new provincial and federal child care funding. Over three years these funds will be used to begin implementing Child Care BC — government’s path to universal child care. This level of public investment delivers on key recommendations of the community’s $10aDay Plan.
Read moreHow the Fight for Child Care Was Won
$10aDay campaign shows a way to bring change — but the battle isn’t over.
‘The $10aDay campaign didn’t rely on massive funding. Success came because the child-care crisis across BC is so bad that people know there had to be a better way.’
As 2018 starts and families with young children scramble in the midst of B.C.’s child-care chaos, we’re waiting with hope that Finance Minister Carole James will announce at least $225 million in new spending to improve child care in her February budget.
Make no mistake. If, as expected, significant progress on child care comes in the budget, it will show the success of the $10aDay campaign for a popular, well-researched, realistic solution to the worsening child-care crisis in our province.
The $10aDay campaign is a classic example of how a small group of women, in this case from the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC and the Early Childhood Educators of BC, can come together with an idea based on expertise, evidence, lived experience and commitment and, with many allies, make that idea a viable, concrete solution to a current public policy disaster.
Read moreTaking the First Steps towards $10aDay Child Care in the BC 2018 Budget
Click here to send a letter to your local MLA and other key players in government, and let them know you expect action on child care to be a major part of BC's 2018 Budget.
In BC’s 2017 provincial election, a majority voted for action on child care. Both the BC NDP and BC Greens made substantial child care commitments. Both parties made child care the largest area of new spending in their platforms. In its subsequent Throne Speech, the BC Liberals also made a commitment to significant new child care investment.
With all three major political parties now publicly committed to new child care funding, British Columbia’s families with young children can finally look forward to meaningful progress on solving the current child care chaos.
The $10aDay Plan is the comprehensive, evidence-based solution to this chaos.
The Plan is grounded in public policy and funding proposals that address the affordability issue for all families with (or hoping to have) young children, and is central to an effective poverty reduction plan. British Columbians are calling on government to implement it.
The Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC and Early Childhood Educators of BC propose concrete, balanced actions that allow government to begin fulfilling their child care commitment in Budget 2018.
These actions support existing BC child care services to participate in building the effective system that BC parents, grandparents, and employers have been waiting for.
Implementing these first steps require the BC government to confirm the multi-lateral and bi-lateral child care agreements with the federal government, and to conclude child care discussions with the BC Green Caucus. These first steps to reduce today’s child care chaos in BC are consistent with the election platforms of both the BC NDP and BC Greens.
That is why the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC and the Early Childhood Educators of BC recommend the following ‘first steps’ for BC’s Budget 2018.
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