Liberals pledge $10to $30-a-day daycare

VANCOUVER — The British Columbia Liberal Party is promising daycare at $10 a day for low-income families and rates that would increase from that price based on income.

Party Leader Andrew Wilkinson said Friday the $10 rate would apply to families with household incomes under $65,000 if the Liberals win the Oct. 24 election. There would be a $20 a day rate for families making $90,000 and $30 a day for those over $125,000.

Wilkinson said the plan would cost $1 billion in its first year and a Liberal government would begin implementing it immediately, but he did not say when it would be complete.

He coupled savings for families from the daycare plan with an earlier promise to eliminate the seven per cent PST for one year.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has hit low-income families harder than most, which is why $10-a-day child care now, not later — on top of eliminating the PST for one year — will mean huge savings for those who need it most,” he said in a statement.

The NDP began a $10-a-day daycare pilot program after being elected in 2017 and have pledged to expand that program provincewide, while the Greens have promised free child care for kids under three and free early childhood education for those aged three and four.

NDP Leader John Horgan, meanwhile, announced he would launch a B.C. shipbuilding strategy to make sure there’s investment in local infrastructure that’s needed to win national and international contracts.

On a visit to the Seaspan Shipyards in North Vancouver, he said the NDP government had already put $40 million into enhancing ports and he believes the national shipbuilding strategy needs to be supplemented with a B.C. plan.

“For years, shipbuilding was being outsourced to other countries — leaving B.C. workers and companies behind,” Horgan said in a news release. “Our long-term strategy is about making strategic investments that will keep B.C. shipyards modern and competitive, able to win more contracts and create more jobs.”

Green Leader Sonia Furstenau was scheduled to campaign in Nanaimo on Friday, when she was expected to talk about climate change and clean jobs.

The Canadian Press Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson sits with children during a campaign stop at a childcare facility, in North Vancouver on Friday. A provincial election will be held in B.C. on October 24.