Ella Dalling has been waiting for a daycare spot for her nine-month-old daughter Murph since early in her pregnancy. Despite applying to around 20 daycares in Vancouver, Dalling has not received any responses. With daycare fees in British Columbia ranging from $200 to $2,000 a month due to the absence of fee caps, parents like Dalling have limited options but to wait or contact daycares directly.
Dalling, a mother from Vancouver, has introduced an online platform called Little Scout, where daycares can list available spots and parents can search for nearby openings. Through her platform, she has interacted with parents and child-care providers across the province who agree that the current daycare system requires enhancements.
A recent report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives reveals that British Columbia lags behind other provinces in offering universal affordable child care. The province’s child-care landscape comprises a mix of private and non-profit facilities, some subsidized by the government and others charging full rates.
David Macdonald, a co-author of the report, highlighted the complexity faced by parents in estimating child-care costs in British Columbia. While the province has made progress in child-care funding following an agreement with Ottawa in 2021, the savings for parents range from $300 to $500 monthly. In contrast, parents in provinces with fee caps enjoy more substantial savings.
Six provinces and territories, including Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island, have implemented fee caps of $10 a day for child care. Alberta and Ontario have capped fees at $15 and $22 per day, respectively. Despite being a frontrunner in the $10-a-day child-care initiative, a spokesperson for the campaign in British Columbia expressed concerns that the provincial government has stalled on the program’s advancement.
Education and Child Care Minister Lisa Beare expressed reservations about the $10-a-day program, citing structural inequities and a lottery-based allocation system. Consequently, the government has halted the expansion of the program to collaborate with families, providers, Indigenous partners, and the federal government to develop a more inclusive, affordable, and sustainable child-care system for the future.