These B.C. cities top the list of highest child-care fees in Canada, think tank says

The federal Liberals promised four years ago to implement $10 a day child care across the country by 2026. A new report shows they'll miss that deadline.

Several B.C. cities have topped a list of the highest daily child-care fees in Canada.

The list was included in a report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) that predicts the federal government will miss its 2026 deadline to implement $10-a-day child care services across the country.

The median daily fee in Richmond is currently $38.94, according to the think tank’s data, with Surrey and Vancouver not far behind at $31.15  and $28.76, respectively.

“They are, in fact, the most expensive cities in the country when it comes to infant care or preschool-aged care,” said David Macdonald, a CCPA senior economist. “So there’s a lot of room to improve in those cities.”

Five years after former prime minister Justin Trudeau and the federal government announced their self-imposed deadline for $10 fees nationwide, the CCPA’s analysis concluded that just six provinces and territories are currently meeting that target.

Macdonald said B.C., Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia don’t yet have plans to reduce fees to $10 per day across the board.

Nearly half the spaces in Vancouver now meet the target, however, something Macdonald credited in part to the federal government’s program.

In response to the CCPA report, the B.C. Conservatives argued the provincial NDP – which has also been gradually adding $10 spaces since taking power in 2017 – will bear much of the blame if the deadline isn’t met locally.

“The NDP’s promise of $10-a-day child care is an unattainable fantasy, and the government still refuses to face reality,” the party said in a news release Thursday.

Opposition critic for childcare Reann Gasper said the province needs to be more transparent with the public and work on removing red tape to allow for child-care operators to increase spaces.

Gasper said the high cost of child care is keeping parents, especially mothers, out of the workforce.

‘We’ve gone off track’

Advocate Sharon Gregson has been calling on the province to accelerate its $10-a-day program for years.

After B.C.’s pilot program was announced under former premier John Horgan, Gregson said, there was hope it would quickly become a reality for families.  

“We seem to have fallen off the rails,” she said. “We’ve gone off track.”

She said the new report just confirmed advocates’ concerns – the same ones that prompted them to relaunch the $10aDay campaign at the end of June, to put pressure on the B.C. government to live up to its commitments.

Gregson and the campaign are calling on the province to come up with better policies, and to make better use of elementary school spaces to provide school-aged child care.

“They can implement the wage grade that they promised for early childhood educators, and they can continue to reduce parent fees to get to $10 a day,” said Gregson.

In a statement, Minister of Education and Child Care Lisa Beare said quality, affordable and reliable child care is fundamental for families and the economy.

“The previous government let the cost of child care rise three times higher than the rate of inflation, cancelled the $14-a-day program and cut subsidies for families that needed it the most, making child care a luxury only a few could afford,” wrote Beare.

“Our government has led the way across the country, working to make child care a service families can depend upon.”

Beare said since the NDP formed government, it has tripled provincial child care investments and tripled the number of new spaces the previous government funded over 16 years, and is still working to decrease costs.

The province also believes it is on track to meet its targets in 2026. Beare wrote that there are more than 17,000 $10-a-day child care spaces, and they are on pace to reach 20,000 spaces.

“We are cutting costs for families through the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative, which reduces fees by up to $900 per month at more than 144,600 spaces,” Beare added.

“The vast majority–roughly 96 per cent–of licensed spaces in B.C. are enrolled in either of these two programs, which are reducing rates for families regardless of income.”

With files from The Canadian Press