Minister denies daycare funding for B.C. legislature, saying area is well served

The B.C. legislature is pictured in downtown Victoria, B.C., on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press)

VICTORIA — Plans by the British Columbia legislative assembly to open a child-care facility remain up in the air after the provincial government rejected a funding request.

The legislature sought the funding in February 2024, but B.C.’s Ministry of Education and Child Care responded in March that the application was unsuccessful.

The legislature had applied to the 2024-25 ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund, which recently announced 486 licensed child-care spaces in 12 locations as part of a larger announcement of more than 750 new spaces valued at more than $62 million.

Minister Lisa Beare said she rejected the application after a review by her ministry because child-care needs were higher elsewhere, adding that the Victoria neighbourhood around the legislature is already well served.

“Other areas that had a higher need were prioritized in this intake,” Beare said. “There are no optics, because it is exactly based on need,” she added.

Beare said that her ministry reviews applications along several criteria before submitting a final list for her approval.

“I signed off on all the spaces at the end of the New Space Fund applications,” she said.

Beare said her ministry is working with the legislature on its application for the next funding window, but it is not clear yet when that will be. Beare said her ministry is still rolling out spaces.

“So it’s going to be awhile still, but we will absolutely let them know when it is time to apply again.”

A 2023 report says the child-care needs of staff working for the legislature and party caucuses would receive priority over the needs of members of the legislative assembly.

The same report pegs the estimated capital cost of the one-storey modular building that would be operated by a not-for-profit at $2 million with another $195,000 for playground equipment.

Legislative assembly clerk Kate Ryan-Lloyd has said the project remains in a “state of readiness,” and her office said in a statement that staff are preparing options for the committee overseeing the administration and financing of the legislature.

Expected options include an updated application to the New Spaces Fund, once details are available, the statement added.

This report by Wolfgang Depner of The Canadian Press was first published May 13, 2025.