Advocates, providers react to B.C. pausing $10-a-day child-care program

As part of B.C.’s Budget 2026, announced Tuesday, new enrollment to the province’s $10-a-day child-care program has been paused, bringing relief to some advocates.

At the time of its launch in 2018, the program was celebrated as a significant step towards providing affordable, quality child care for families across the province.

But eight years later, some say the program has failed to keep up with demand.

Sharon Gregson with the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC says the province is not managing as well as other parts of Canada.

Gregson asked, “How is that other provinces have been able to bring in universal fee reductions, and in British Columbia, only 10 per cent of our childcare is $10-a-day?”

With the enrollment pause, she hopes all parties have a chance to return to the table and solve the problems that she says have made child care both harder to access and less affordable.

“There are long waiting lists… in Vancouver, parents are paying over $2,000 a month for child care. There is so much work to do. And this pause will really have to be short, sharp, and focused to get to where we need to be in this province.”

Budget documents claimed the province made the decision to pause enrollment after hearing concerns about equity from child-care service operators.

Vancouver’s Kiwassa Neighbourhood House, one of the program’s first adopters in 2018, welcomes the pause.

Executive Director Darius Maze says the funding model made operations difficult.

“It was really a tough challenge for child-care centres like ours to look at and say, ‘We don’t want to choose between quality child care and affordable child care.’ We want to be able to offer both to families,” he explained.

If the previous model was allowed to continue, Maze says child-care centres would likely have to make some difficult decisions.

“The savings that the province was hoping to see were lower wages, fewer benefits to pay for.”

He says the province was hoping to make savings on lower wages and fewer benefits to cover, which threatened his ability to retain staff.

Maze hopes those who help shape the adults of tomorrow will be properly compensated.

“You have children that need additional support, and so the more educators you have on the floor, even just one, just allows for more attention, a little more care. So again, it really makes all the difference for the children.”

Maze says lengthy wait times left families who actually get $10-a-day care celebrating as if they had won the lottery. He hopes the province will work with frontline staff to ensure that when the program returns, it is truly universal.

“And not just [provided to] the lucky few who live in the right place and have access at the right time.”

—With files from Charles Brockman