Federal government puts 3.2 billion dollars into the pot for Early child care in British Columbia

Triple O's and Child care were on the agenda yesterday
for the Premier and the Prime Minister
(photo from PM Trudeau's twitter feed)

The Prime Minister is on a tour that is  "definitely not nudge, nudge, wink, wink" a pre election campaign tour this week, with British Columbia the latest stop on the cross Canada jaunt that isn't a campaign tour, yesterday bringing Justin Trudeau and Premier John Horgan together to catch up things of shared interest.

Among the items of note from the visit, an announcement of additional funding towards Child Care, with both the Prime Minister and the Premier noting how it brings the goal of 10 dollar a day Child Care just a little bit closer.

What the Federal government has described a a historic first agreement, the Federal government will invest $3.2 billion dollars over the next five years towards early learning and child care for children under the age of 6 in the province.

In the announcement the Federal government outlined how that funding will be delivered.

Under this agreement, the governments of Canada and British Columbia will work together to improve access to quality, affordable, flexible, and inclusive early learning and child care programs and services. British Columbia and Canada agree on the goal of $10 a day child care, and will work together towards achieving an average parent fee of $10 per day for all regulated child care spaces for children under 6 by the end of the five-year agreement. By the end of 2022, British Columbians will see a 50 per cent reduction in average parent fees for children under the age of 6 in regulated child care. 

This agreement will lead to the creation of 30,000 new regulated early learning and child care spaces for children under the age of 6 within five years, and 40,000 spaces within seven years. These spaces will be focused on community investments that are long-term and run by public and non-profit institutions.

The full announcement, including quotes on the occasion from a range of participants can be reviewed here.

So far, the province has not provided any details as to how this additional  funding will be awarded across British Columbia and what programs will be in place in communities such as Prince Rupert.

MLA Jennifer Rice with some funding for child care in May

In May the province rolled out some of its plans towards Child Care Spaces, with their existing funding of the Spring announced towards a child care centre at the old Booth School Building.

Last October the City of Prince Rupert issued a call for applicants for Expressions of Interest from Child Care providers for a potential local program at the Recreation Centre, though there has been no update on that initiative since that time.

The City's interest in the topic coming out of the Child Care Review that was delivered in March of 2020.

Earlier this month we outlined the scope of a survey for Port Edward residents, which is looking to determine what the need is for the District.

More notes on the Federal political scene can be found from our House of Commons archive, while we track provincial political themes through our Legislature page.