B.C. NDP fails to deliver on $10/day child care promise

The NDP’s ideology is getting in the way of delivering affordable, accessible childcare for British Columbia families who need it most.

After spending millions of taxpayer dollars on a childcare model designed to exclude private operators (what the NDP calls “for-profit childcare”)  the cracks in their plan are becoming impossible to ignore.

For decades, across BC, small business childcare providers have delivered more than half of the daycare spaces in the province. These local operators and entrepreneurs provided childcare long before the government got involved. In 2021, BC received federal funding which resulted in the expansion of not-for-profit and public sector childcare providers across the province. That decision negatively impacted private childcare providers, many of whom have been serving families for years, by essentially pushing them out of the system.

Instead of partnering with them, the NDP chose ideology over practicality. We have watched the NDP quietly walk away from its flagship $10-a-day childcare promise. First it was “paused”, then it was “replaced.” The language changes depending on the day, but the outcome is the same: fewer families getting the affordable $10 a day care they were promised.