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Former NDP MLA and cabinet minister Katrina Chen, who helped implement B.C.’s $10-a-day child-care plan, is one of 23 signatories of a letter to Premier David Eby alleging his government is failing to deliver on its child care promises.
“We are deeply concerned that instead of growing a quality $10aDay system, your government is walking away from its own commitment to create universal access and is instead returning to the failed market-based, income-testing approaches of the past, dismantling the progress that has been made,” reads the letter, which was made public on Tuesday.
During the 2017 election, the B.C. NDP campaigned under then leader John Horgan for a $10-a-day child care system to make child care affordable for all families.
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Seven years into the plan, advocacy group 10aDay.ca and the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C. say only 10 per cent of 170,000 child care spots in the province are $10 per day.
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In July, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives published a report that showed B.C. falling behind on affordable child care compared to other provinces, despite leading the way five years ago.
Child Care Minister Lisa Beare said that $10-a-day child care was merely one tool in the toolbox as the province worked to expand its child-care system.
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