Critics say shortage of licensed daycare spaces likely to become worse
Parksville Qualicum News
By Tom Fletcher Black Press
Jan 09 2007

VICTORIA - Daycare-dependent B.C. parents receiving the federal child care benefit will soon have to pay about half of it towards higher fees for licensed daycare facilities.

The Conservative government in Ottawa launched its Universal Child Care Benefit last year, paying $100 a month directly to parents of pre-school children. That program replaces the 2005 federal-provincial subsidy program for licensed daycares, which is set to expire at the end of March.

Faced with a loss of $455 million in federal funds over the next three years, the B.C. government is focusing its own resources on maintaining subsidies for low-income families and children with special needs.

Linda Reid, B.C.'s minister of state for child care, has sent a letter to daycare operators reminding them that as of July 1, provincial operating funds for licensed non-profit daycares go back to 2005 levels. To make up the difference, daycares will have to raise fees by $2 per child, per day.

Reid said that with full-time daycare of 20 days a month, the total increase will be about $40 per month. Parents end up with roughly $80 a month from Ottawa after taxes, so the system should work "fairly well" for B.C. parents, she said.

"Certainly we are going to hope that the $100 that families receive directly from the federal government for child care, that some of that can go towards offsetting the costs of maintaining the child care program," Reid said.

Child care policy could become an issue again with a federal election possible some time in 2007. Paying parents directly instead of subsidizing institutional daycare was popular for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but critics say the shortage of licensed daycare spaces is likely to become worse.

Claire Trevena, child care critic for the B.C. NDP, said the B.C. Liberals are not only cutting funding, they are also capping the subsidy program to build and fund new daycare spaces.

"Child care providers have been looking for a comprehensive plan for provincial child care, and instead the government has dismissed this essential service," Trevena said. "Minister Reid and the B.C. Liberals sat back and watched as the Harper government gutted federal funding."

Both the B.C. and federal governments argue they are spending more overall, not less. The federal payments go to all parents, whether they use formal daycare, babysitting or care for their children themselves.

And Reid points out that the recent increases for low-income and special needs daycare in B.C. are being maintained despite the loss of federal transfers.

In October of 2005, the B.C. government increased the income threshold to qualify for daycare subsidies from $21,000 to $38,000 a year, excluding the new federal payments from its income calculation. Reid said the program now reaches 25,000 families, at a cost of $126 million a year.

A further $16.5 million has been added to support children for special needs and this will be maintained, Reid said.