Excerpts
Introduction
In March 2024, the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC worked with Research Co.[1] to conduct a provincial poll asking British Columbians about their views on $10aDay child care.
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The new provincial poll explores public views of $10aDay child care 6 years after the program’s launch in BC, and 5 years after our last provincial poll. To support comparisons over time, some polling questions are consistent with previous polls.
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Summary of Findings
British Columbians continue to strongly support $10aDay child care[2]. Nearly 80% of British Columbians say it’s important for government to continue with its $10aDay commitments and three quarters (76%) think implementation should be moving more quickly. 75% of British Columbians also agree that flexible child care options are needed as more parents today work outside of Monday to Friday 9-5.
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At the same time, 84% of BC families with young children report that long waiting lists for child care are still a problem.
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Overall, 70% of British Columbians with young children say that government has made child care more affordable for their family, and 88% confirm that they would like to have access to $10aDay child care.
Highlights
The poll asked British Columbians to consider 17 $10aDay policy recommendations. While the results show that support drops slightly for older age groups, and men relative to women, overall, the recommendations were broadly supported (see charts below).
Specifically,
- 84% of British Columbians agree it’s important for Early Childhood Educators to earn fair wages for their important work.
- 81% agree that all elementary schools should provide before and after school care for the children in that school.
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Furthermore,
- 90% of young people (aged 18-34) think it’s important to keep building the $10aDay child care system, and 58% say this issue will be vote-determining for them in the upcoming BC election.
Among older British Columbians,
- 90% think it’s important for Early Childhood Educators to earn fair wages.
- 78% think BC’s child care system should help parents who work non-traditional schedules.
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On affordability,
- 85% of British Columbians – and 88% of those over 55 – agree that having children now costs a lot more than it did 40 years ago.
- 82% agree child care is important to support working parents.
- 80% agree that single parents have a better opportunity to work when there’s access to quality flexible $10aDay child care.
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On the economic impacts of child care,
- 78% of British Columbians agree that employers benefit from investments in child care because more parents can go to work.
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These poll results confirm what we hear from families, educators, and communities across BC. Public support for $10aDay Child Care remains very strong and consistent.
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