NDP, Liberals spar over child care

2,055 new spaces miss target by ‘a country mile’: Wilkinson

B.C.’s NDP government is behind in opening the new child-care spaces it promised, according to figures released Wednesday by the Opposition Liberals. But the minister responsible says thousands of new spaces are on the way and count toward reaching the government’s goals.

The government promised to fund “24,000 new child care spaces over the next three years” in its 2018 budget — a figure that includes 22,000 provincially funded spaces and 2,000 federally funded spots.

Halfway through that timeline, only 2,055 spaces are open and operational, according to ministry statistics the Liberals quoted during question period on Wednesday.

Another 10,558 spaces are “funded” but not yet open, the statistics show.

The government has “missed by a country mile” its goals, said Opposition leader Andrew Wilkinson.

“Rather than 24,000 spaces, we have 2,000 spaces,” he said. “That’s a 91 per cent failure rate. At this rate, it’s going to take 14 years to reach 24,000 … because [Minister of State for Child Care Katrina Chen] is going to pretend funding spaces is creating spaces.”

Chen said many more spots should be open within months.

“In terms of the spaces that are open, up and running, we have about 2,000,” she said.

“But we have about 1,600 that are being built at this moment, in the coming months, that will be open. And we have more to come, so our commitment is to support a creation of 22,000, and we’ve supported a creation of 10,000.”

Chen’s ministry said the 1,600 additional spots will open for parents within the next six months. If 2017 funding is factored in, as well as partnership with municipalities, First Nations and the federal government, the ministry argued the total spaces funded so far is 15,242.

Chen appeared to indicate her government will consider the promises kept after three years even if some of the spaces are funded but not yet open to the public. Her ministry pointed to previous child care announcements, under the former B.C. Liberal government, that counted child-care spaces before construction was complete.

Liberal child-care critic Laurie Throness said the government is fudging its figures because it is counting money and spaces used to help convert existing unlicensed child-care businesses into fully licensed spaces that do not provide a net gain to the system or parents.

“When you look at the numbers more closely, they get even worse because the government promised new spaces, not old ones,” Throness said. “Of the 2,055 spaces, 877 were created through the new spaces fund. But the rest are from a start-up fund to help existing spaces become licensed.”

The new spaces are one of several child-care promises by the NDP. The government also brought in extra funding for child-care subsidies that has cut fees for certain parents that qualify. Its election pledge to create a $10-a-day child care program is a 10-year work in progress, with 53 prototype sites serving about 2,500 children.

Funding for the prototype sites come from a $60-million agreement with the federal government set to expire in March. Finance Minister Carole James said she raised the issue recently with federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau and expects to see an extension of the agreement.