British Columbia

Government documents

Budget website [1]

Within the balanced budget, government is introducing new measures to benefit B.C. families and help make family life more affordable, including:

 

...A new B.C. Early Childhood Tax Benefit will provide $146 million to approximately 180,000 families with children under six years old, effective April 1, 2015. Families with young children can receive up to $55 per child, per month. Most will receive the full amount, while those with family incomes between $100,000 and $150,000 a year will receive a partial benefit. About 90 per cent of B.C. families with young children are expected to be eligible.

 

B.C.'s new Early Years Strategy will invest $76 million over three years to support the creation of new child care spaces and improve the quality of child care and early years services. Included within this, $32 million will support the creation of new child care spaces and $37 million will improve the quality of services available.

 

The families agenda for British Columbia: Building a sustainable quality early years strategy to support BC families [2], Government of BC, 20 Feb 12

News articles

Time for B.C. to invest in $10 a day child care. Opinion: Families squeezed between unaffordable housing and exorbitant child care, Vancouver Sun, 18 Feb 13

Budget 2013 'not very good for young people': advocates [3], The Tyee, 18 Feb 13

Affordable child care promised in Tuesday budget, but $10-a-day system ruled out [4], Times Colonist, 16 Feb 13

Child-focused B.C. budget programs come cheap: Christy Clark's 'families first' focus gets big portion of little government has to spend [5], CBC News, 20 Feb 13

Other readings

Assessing BC's Fiscal Health: Can BC afford more deficits? [6], CCPA Policy note, 17 Apr 13