Parents demand $10 daycare with week of action
Parents say provincially sponsored program would allow more parents to work, contribute to economy
Parents across B.C. are rallying for a $10-a-day, daycare system.
In Vancouver this weekend, mothers and fathers and their children marched along Commercial Drive from 14th Street to Charles Avenue stopping at Grandview Park to argue that affordable daycare helps families and bolsters the economy by allowing more parents to work.
That was fun! The band played as we strolled & strollered up Commercial. So many smiling faces supporting <a href="https://twitter.com/10aDayPlan">@10aDayPlan</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/votechildcare">@votechildcare</a>
—@LynellAndersonSara Langlois attended the rally. She has a three-month-old daughter and says she is struggling with what to do when she has to return to work as a teacher.
"What I'm going to have to do because there's no other option is I'm going to have to put my daughter under the care of someone who's probably not licensed or I'm going to have to resign my job, which I really don't want to do."
The rally in Vancouver is just one of several around the province organized by the Coalition of Childcare Advocates of B.C. for a week of advocacy.
"All raising the profile of the child care crisis being visible in communities," said Sharon Gregson with the coalition. "And putting pressure on those who want to be elected in October that they need to go to Ottawa prepared to invest in childcare."
For immediate release: Communities across Canada spring in to a Week of Action <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/VoteChildCare2015?src=hash">#VoteChildCare2015</a> <a href="http://t.co/9bHPqfLGmi">http://t.co/9bHPqfLGmi</a>
—@votechildcareBC Early Childhood Tax Benefit
The provincial government has long argued that a $10-a-day daycare subsidy would be far too costly to implement.
However, in its 2015 budget it is providing some relief to families through the BC Early Childhood Tax Benefit.
The new benefit progarm provides up to $660-a-year for each child under the age of six to help offset the cost of child care.
When combined with federal benefits for families with children, a couple earning $60,000 with two children under the age of six could receive an annual benefit of about $7,500 according to the government's web site.