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B.C. parents getting the federal child care benefit will soon have to pay about half of it toward higher fees for daycare.
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Faced with a loss of $455 million in federal funds over the next three years, Linda Reid, B.C.'s minister of state for child care, sent a letter to daycare owners reminding them that as of July 1, provincial operating funds for licenced non-profit daycares go back to 2005 levels.
To make up the difference, daycares will have to raise fees by $2 per child, per day.
Reid said with full-time daycare of 20 days a month, the increase will be about $40 per month. B.C. parents receive about $80 a month from Ottawa after taxes, she said.
"Certainly we are going to hope the $100 families receive directly from the federal government for child care, that some of that can go toward offsetting the costs of maintaining the child care program," Reid said.
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Child care policy could become an issue again with a possible federal election in 2007. Paying parents directly instead of subsidizing institutional daycare was popular for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but critics say the shortage of licensed daycare spaces is likely to worsen.
Claire Trevena, child care critic for the B.C. NDP, said B.C. Liberals are not only cutting funding, they are capping the program to build and fund new daycare spaces.
"Child care providers have been looking for a comprehensive plan for provincial child care, and instead the government has dismissed this essential service," she said.
Both the B.C. and federal governments argue they are spending more overall, not less. The federal payments go to all parents.
In October 2005, the B.C. government increased the income threshold to qualify for daycare subsidies from $21,000 to $38,000 a year.
- reprinted from the Peace Arch News