The Coalition of Child Care Advocates of British Columbia, which is affiliated with Child Care Now, has launched a petition calling on Premier John Horgan to make BC the first province to sign an agreement with the federal government so that the new federal dollars announced in Budget 2021 can be used to accelerate the implementation of a $10 a day early learning and child care program.
As Sharon Gregson and Lynell Anderson of the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC note in their recent op-ed: “BC needs to ensure new funds lower parent fees to a maximum of $10aDay, create new $10aDay programs with public and non-profit partners, and pay educators across the province a decent wage to alleviate the recruitment and retention crisis in the sector.”
BC’s child care advocates were very disappointed with the provincial budget, tabled the day after the federal budget was released. The NDP had pledged $1.5 billion in new child-care funding over three years but the 2021 budget committed only an additional $233 million over the next three years, just 16 per cent of what was expected.
BC’s child care advocates say the federal funds can help make up the shortfall, but that their provincial government must also increase its own spending to accelerate the implementation of the $10 a day roadmap released by advocates in April 2021.