B.C. premier's office mobbed over child-care costs

About 200 protesters gathered outside Premier Christy Clark's constituency office in Vancouver's Point Grey neighbourhood Saturday afternoon to demand affordable public child care.

The rally, organized by the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC, is urging the province adopt the "$10-a-day plan" for affordable child care, which would see parents pay $10 a day for daycare with the province picking up the rest of the tab.

Many of those at the rally hope to see B.C. create a program like Quebec's, which provides subsidized childcare for $7 a day.

In the recent budget, the government promised a $55-a-month child-care tax benefit for families with children under age six, starting in 2015.

Irene Lanzinger, speaking for the BC Federation of Labour, says the tax benefit does nothing to help families who already face expensive child-care fees and housing prices.

"Well, it's not enough, and it's not geared toward childcare," Lanziger said. "We need something that specifically increases childcare and makes child care more affordable so working families can do better."