Advocates laud NDP’s priorities on child care

Child-care advocates are “really pleased” with the latest B.C. budget, saying it’s another step toward universal $10-a-day child care.

“This is year two of building a child-care system. There’s no way to put a negative on that,” said Sharon Gregson of the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C. “It is really happening, and we’ll be encouraging them to move as fast as they can.”

Finance Minister Carole James delivered the 2019 budget — the NDP’s second full budget — on Tuesday in Victoria.

Child care was one of the two main focuses of last year’s budget, when the province announced its Child Care B.C. plan, which included fee-reduction subsidies, new spaces and pilot projects.

“In budget 2018, we took an enormous step forward, making the largest investment in child care in B.C.’s history, transforming child care and changing families’ lives for the better,” James said.

While the 2019 budget extended funding for the plan into the 2021-22 fiscal year and included a $9-million-per-year increase to deal with deal with high demand for existing programs — bringing the total investment in the plan over three years to $1.3 billion — it doesn’t do much to build on what has already been announced.

Over the past year, the government has introduced a number of programs, including the child-care fee-reduction initiative, which cut day-care costs by up to $350 a month per space. In July, a $237-million fund was announced to create 22,000 new, licensed child-care spaces across the province over the next three years. These programs and others will continue to be funded into 2022, according to the budget, but universal $10a-day child care is not in the immediate future.

The province also announced a B.C. child opportunity benefit to replace the early childhood tax benefit, which currently provides families with up to $660 a year per child under the age of six. The new benefit, which begins in October 2020, will provide families with one child up to $1,600 a year, families with two children $2,600 a year and families with three children up to $3,400 a year. The benefit will be paid until the child is 18. instead of ending at age six.