Labour shortages provoked by an aging population demonstrated in recent Statistics Canada data should be a wake up call for the B.C. Liberal government, according to their NDP counterparts.

The simple solution to B.C.'s labour crisis is through providing affordable child care, says Nanaimo NDP MLA Leonard Krog.

That would allow parents to stay in the B.C. workforce instead of being forced out because they can't afford daycare.

"There is no question when you've got low-paying jobs, you can't get people back into the workforce unless you subsidize their daycare," said Krog.

In 2006 the federal government announced it was cancelling the Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. That resulted in the B.C. Government cutting its funding to daycares. As of July 1, the cuts mean family daycares lose about $1 a day for each child, while group daycares lose about $2 a day for each child aged three to five, and $4 a day for each child under 30 months.

Nicky Mork, owner of Quarterway Child Care Centre in Nanaimo, said about 50% of her clients receive daycare subsidies. Clients will now be expected to pay out-of-pocket to their daycare the amount the provincial government cut from their subsidy.

"There will be a big chunk of people who won't be able to afford it," Mork said.

That means daycares will have to "eat the cost." "We have raised our fees, but it will only be the people who can actually afford to pay for it who will pay for it," she said. "We are not going to say (your child) can't come.

"We are just getting on the track where we can afford to pay our employees the wage they desire, then the government cuts it all back again," she said. " I don't think the government realizes how they play with us when they do stuff like that." Krog said he supports the choice of people who can afford to have one parent stay at home raising children. Unfortunately, that's a choice that the economy doesn't allow the majority of people to make.