As the B.C. NDP government prepared to be the first province to sign on to a Canada-wide child care plan this summer, it decided to shift funding for new spaces away from private providers that were adding most of the new capacity, an internal document shows.
B.C. Liberal critics released a minister鈥檚 decision note dated May 21, 2021 that outlines the first four years of the NDP鈥檚 child care plan, based on Premier John Horgan鈥檚 2017 election promise to move to a subsidized $10-a-day daycare system similar to that of Quebec.
The , signed by Minister of State for Child Care Katrina Chen and released under freedom of information legislation, details that as the province increased new space funding to meet demand from working parents, it was for-profit child care businesses that led the way. Chen signed off on the cabinet recommendation to discontinue for-profit eligibility for new spaces funding and and not create any additional incentive programs.
鈥淭he ongoing growth among for-profit child care providers appears to be steady over the last 15 years,鈥� the decision note says. 鈥淪tarting in 2016-17 it appears not-for-profit [and] public space creation slowed, and there may have been a slight acceleration of for-profit spaces.鈥�
In question period Nov. 16, B.C. Liberal MLA Karin Kirkpatrick accused Chen of 鈥渄ismantling鈥� the 60,000 spaces run by private child care providers. Kamloops MLA Todd Stone said the document reveals 鈥渁 secret ideological decision to drive independent child care providers, who are responsible for almost 50 per cent of all child care spaces in this province, out of business.鈥�
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Chen did not respond directly to the accusation, reciting statistics about the increase in new child care spaces since the NDP government was formed in 2017. The decision note includes charts showing that in the first three years of the 鈥渘ew spaces fund,鈥� 403 projects were funded for more than 18,000 spaces. For-profit spaces were becoming operational faster than public or non-profits, many of which were 鈥渟till in development鈥� as of May.
The document states the shift in new spaces funding will not affect operating grants to for-profit providers, and their growth has occurred even without new spaces funding as they charged generally higher fees to parents.
It describes a cabinet decision in 2020 that 鈥渙nly public organizations, Indigenous governments and non-profits would be eligible for provincial child care space creation funding鈥� by 2027. This approach is to 鈥渇urther signal government鈥檚 move away from market-based child care towards a universal, coordinated child care system,鈥� with a flat fee for parents that may make it 鈥渃ost-prohibitive for for-profit providers to remain in the sector, making the creation of these spaces unviable in the medium term.鈥�
tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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