HORGAN’S CHILD CARE PLAN FUZZY ON FUNDING
NDP falling into habit of citing tax on the rich to pay for programs
While B.C. New Democrats have long supported accessible and affordable universal child care, they have for the most part stopped short of fully funding those ambitions in their election platforms.
The main exception was Child Care B.C., introduced by the last NDP government on the eve of the 2001 election, which guaranteed $14-a-day care for every child in B.C. to the age of 12.
The program was to be phased in over three years in partnership with the federal government. The provincial share was budgeted at just under $500 million at full implementation in 2004.
Child Care B.C. was an early entry on the list of casualties when the B.C. Liberals took office later that year.
The proposed $14-a-day plan made a brief comeback a few years later when the NDP’s former provincial director of child care, Carole James, assumed the party leadership.
But after questions over how she intended to come up with the necessary half a billion dollars a year in funding, James backed off. Instead, her 2005 and 2009 election platforms proposed modest increases in provincial funding for child care coupled with promises to lobby Ottawa for a cost-shared national plan.
Adrian Dix assumed the party leadership in early 2011 promising to expand child care at the provincial level. But he, too, put the emphasis on seeking federal funding, an increasingly unlikely prospect with Stephen Harper as prime minister.
Confronted with a call from child care advocates for a made-in-B. C. plan at $10-a-day, Dix said an NDP government could not afford the estimated $1.5 billion annual cost. Instead, the child care plan in his election platform promised a mere $10 million in additional funding in the first year, growing to $60 million in the third.
There the matter stood until this week, when Dix’s successor John Horgan took the plunge on $10-a-day child care.
“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,” he declared. “Lack of affordable, quality child care prevents parents from participating in the labour force, and B.C.’s business and labour sectors agree with New Democrats that the Clark government’s ongoing neglect of child care makes it difficult for businesses to attract women, young families and skilled workers.”
The $10-a-day commitment put Horgan ahead of what New Democrats have been calling for in other jurisdictions. National leader Tom Mulcair went to the elector- ate a year ago promising a $5-billion Canada-wide plan that would deliver child care at no more than $15-a-day.
The spring 2015 election platform for the victorious Alberta NDP included child care at $25-a-day at a cost of $125 million. But even that comparatively modest aspiration has been stalled by the government of premier Rachel Notley until provincial finances improve.
When Horgan was asked to cost his $10-a-day-plan, he repeated the figure from four years ago of $1.5 billion at full implementation. But I gather it might be more than that, depending on the implementation schedule and the degree of take-up from the public.
Asked how he would cover the tab, Horgan said he would start by raising more revenue from individuals with taxable incomes over $150,000.
The B.C. Liberals hiked income taxes on folks in that bracket for two years, ending in 2015. Horgan indicated an NDP government would restore the rate. Perhaps he might consider a second increase on the same income bracket, as proposed by the NDP in their 2013 election platform.
Together those two increases on high income earners could bring in half a billion dollars a year, still well short of $1.5 billion.
Moreover, New Democrats are falling into the habit of citing a tax on the rich as a starting point for funding every increase in program spending, as if those dollars could be used again and again instead of only once.
Granted, provincial finances are in better shape than they were back in 2013 when the NDP balked at funding $10-a-day child care.
But even the healthiest budget surplus won’t survive many promises in the $1.5-billion range, and child care is not the only area where Horgan and crew have major spending ambitions.
One change that might work in favour of the NDP this time around is the change of government at the federal level.
One of the more than 200 promises in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s election platform called for “affordable, high quality, flexible and inclusive child care for Canadian families.”
A genuinely cost-shared national program might go a long way toward reducing the B.C. end of funding for $10-a-day child care.
But for now New Democrats are saying that further details about funding and implementation will be set out closer to the election, in a fully costed party platform.
On Tuesday I reported the wrong reason why Janet Fraser, the Green trustee on the Vancouver school board, had decided to belatedly support a balanced budget.
The correct reason was reported in The Vancouver Sun on Saturday by education reporter Tracy Sherlock:
“Fraser said she intends to vote for the budget now because not having an approved budget is ‘cumbersome’ for staff, because approving the budget will not change the reality of the cuts and passing a balanced budget will likely improve the board’s relationship with Bernier.”
My apologies to Fraser for getting it wrong.
A genuinely cost-shared national program might go a long way toward reducing the B.C. end of funding for $10-a-day child care.