CHILD-CARE CHAMPION MUST WAIT A BIT LONGER
James’ commitment runs up against finance and power-sharing deal
One of the surprises in the budget update this week was that Finance Minister Carole James had not provided any increase in funding for the NDP’s ambitious child-care program.
Not only did the party platform promise a hefty injection of dollars for the current year, but no provincial politician has been more closely tied to the commitment to universal child care than James herself.
Jan 21, 2001: James makes her formal entry into the provincial political arena when the New Democrats nominate her as the candidate in Victoria-Beacon Hill. As the then-director of child care in the NDP government, she helped shape Child Care B.C., offering before- and afterschool care at $7 a day or $14 for a full day. The all-in cost is budgeted at $1.2 billion for the first four years.
May 16, 2001: The New Democrats are defeated and James loses her seat by a mere 35 votes after a recount. After the Liberals scrap Child Care B.C. she leaves government to work with First Nations on child-welfare issues, then returns to the capital to run for the NDP leadership two years later.
Nov. 23, 2003: James wins the party leadership, defeating five candidates on the second ballot. One of her first promises is universal child care. May 12, 2004: James backs away from duplicating Child Care B.C. because of the projected $1.2 billion cost. “The key question is whether the government could afford it.” May 17, 2005: The answer to the foregoing question is “probably not.” In her first campaign as leader, James offers no new provincial funding for child care, only the hope of attracting $130 million from the then-federal Liberal government.
May 12, 2009: With the Stephen Harper Conservatives in power in Ottawa, James in her second campaign is no longer counting on any federal dollars for child care. Instead her election platform promises $125 million in provincial funding spread over three years. May 14, 2013: New NDP leader Adrian Dix supports $10-aday child care in principle but not in practice, saying the estimated $1.5-billion annual cost is not affordable.
James (having been ousted from the leadership in a caucus revolt) is now co-chair of the party platform committee. It promises a mere $10 million for increased child-care spaces in the first year of an NDP government and a total of $100 million over three years.
Oct. 19, 2016: After years of lowering expectations on child-care funding, the New Democrats are back on the file in a big way. “It’s time families have an affordable, universal child-care program in B.C., and we’re going to work toward a $10-a-day program,” new leader John Horgan tells reporters in a preview of the platform for the coming election.
James is now the party’s finance critic and likely finance minister in an NDP government.
Asked how the New Democrats would cover the estimated $1.5-billion cost, Horgan says they would start by restoring a higher bracket for taxable incomes greater than $150,000.
But that would raise less than $300 million and in any event (see below) the tax turned out not to be part of the funding plan.
April 13, 2017: The New Democrats release an election platform with a centrepiece promise of universal child care at $10 a day.
Though would-be premier Horgan has suggested that full implementation might take 10 years, the platform doesn’t skimp on getting a good start on funding.
There’s $175 million promised for the current year, $280 million for the financial year starting April 1, growing to $400 million the following year.
The commitment of $855 million to child care over three years is larger than the three previous NDP election platforms put together.
Sept 11, 2017: The first NDP government in 16 years, with Carole James presiding as minister of finance, presents an update on the provincial budget inherited from the departed B.C. Liberals.
But there’s no sign of the promised $175 million for this, the first year of the child-care plan. Instead the finance minister’s powerpoint presentation in the budget lockup suggests the New Democrats were making “$20 million in new child care investments.”
But the $20 million is a holdover from the budget tabled in February by the B.C. Liberals and dismissed as inadequate by the New Democrats.
James blames the holdup on the power-sharing agreement with the Greens.
“You will know from the agreement we have with the Greens that we have a difference of opinion around how we get to the child program,” she tells reporters. “We support the $10-a-day program. They support the principles of affordable, quality child care. We’re going to have those discussions, but our commitment continues to be $10 a day.”
Meanwhile that increase in personal income taxes — the one that Horgan said would help pay for $10-a-day child care — has been brought in and used to fund other spending increases in James’ budget update.
Meaning, once the New Democrats and the Greens negotiate a common understanding on affordable, quality child care, they’ll also have to rustle up another source of funds, be it $1.5 billion or something less.
Feb. 28, 2018: Scheduled date for the next provincial budget, the first full-blown one under the NDP. Also the day when child-care advocates will be looking for James to finally deliver on the promises she began making 17 years ago.
We support the $10-a-day program. (The Greens) support the principles of affordable, quality child care.
CAROLE JAMES, provincial finance minister