Our Growing Challenge: Six ideas that could make a difference
The Province's Growing Challenge team offers its own suggestions for the future

The Province
October 22, 2010
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RECOMMENDATION: Increase support for young families

More and more families in B.C. are dual-income households where both parents are in the labour force.

To help alleviate the time and financial pressures facing young parents, The Province supports two recommendations from the 15 by 15 report issued by the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) last year.

First, extend maternal and parental leave from one year to 18 months and increase the benefits so that parents don't take such a financial hit to stay home with their children — an estimated annual cost of $585 million.

Next, implement a universal early childhood education and care program for children 18 months to five years old so that all kids, regardless of their socio-economic status, will have equal access to a high-quality, nurturing, learning environment.

The universal (but not mandatory) model should have part-time or full-time options and require parents to make a contribution. This could be capped at an average of 20 per cent of the cost and organized on a sliding scale, so that low-income families can access the program for free.

The parent fee would work out to $3,400 to $5,000 per year (or $13.50 to $20 a day), depending on the child's age and assuming childcare is utilized on a full-time, year-round, full-employment-day basis.

At $1.5 billion a year, this universal childcare system would not be cheap, but it's critically needed, says 15 by 15 co-author Paul Kershaw. "It fills the major piece of our family policy puzzle."

BC Government RESPONDS