Child care in B.C.—long on government proclamations, short on spaces

If the success of the British Columbia government’s child-care program—which is subsidized by billions of federal and provincial tax dollars to push out-of-pocket fees towards $10 per day—is measured by the volume of government announcements, then the program is a smashing success.

The NDP government recently made three announcements in one day—the upcoming construction of 79 new child-care spaces in Homalco, the development of 74 child-care spaces in Burnaby, and the creation of almost 600 new child-care spaces in nine other centres provincewide.

But unfortunately, if measured by the ability of families to access high-quality child care, then the government has failed.

Stories of child-care shortages are widespread and no region is immune. A school board trustee says Vancouver is suffering an “acute childcare crisis.” The CBC reported parents in Coquitlam wait up to three years for child-care spots at some centres. A Smithers town councillor says friends have left the community because child care is unavailable. And so on.

On top of these stories, two recent surveys lay bare the failure of government child-care policies in B.C., showing child care remains widely inaccessible, waitlists are extremely long, parents are unable to work because of child-care unavailability, and the most financially disadvantaged families have the worst child-care access.

The first survey, commissioned by the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of British Columbia (which incidentally advocates for greater government subsidization and control of child care), found 84 per cent of parents with young children (age 12 or lower) agreed that “long waiting lists are still a problem for families who need child care” compared to only 10 per cent who disagreed and 7 per cent who weren’t sure.

Among parents whose children have used child care, 39 per cent said they had to wait more than six months for a spot, including 15 per cent who said they had to wait more than two years. For families with annual household income under $50,000, the proportion that had to wait more than six months rises to 49 per cent, with a staggering 25 per cent waitlisted for more than two years.

The survey also found 67 per cent of parents whose children have used child care agreed with the statement that a “parent had to remain away from work for a longer period following the end of parental leave because child care was unavailable”—rising to 71 among families with annual household income under $50,000.

And when asked if “you or anyone you personally know benefitted from access” to government-promised $10-per-day child care, only 20 per cent of survey respondents said “yes” but falling to 16 per cent among those with annual household income under $50,000.

A separate survey done by RayCam Co-Operative was answered by 100 parents and caregivers of children under age five in Vancouver’s Strathcona and Downtown Eastside neighbourhoods. The vast majority of households surveyed had annual income under $50,000, and their most common primary child-care arrangement is parental care only—an arrangement not subsidized by the governmental $10-per-day child-care program, even though these families must pay taxes to support it.

Only 21 per cent of RayCam survey respondents said they did not experience challenges finding child care while 46 per cent cited the unavailability of child care spaces, 42 per cent cited cost, and 21 per cent cited distance from their home or workplace.

So what do all these dismal numbers mean?

Clearly, heavy government subsidization and control of child care has not fixed child-care shortages in B.C., particularly among the province’s poorest households. Although, according to the evidence, there has been no shortage of government child-care announcements.