new report<\/a> from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives finds that B.C. has fallen behind other provinces when it comes to universal affordable child care.<\/p>\nThe province’s child-care system is a mix of private and non-profit operators, some with deep government subsidies and some that charge full price. <\/p>\n
David Macdonald, one of the report’s co-authors, says parents are asking a simple question.<\/p>\n
“How much am I going to have to pay for child care in places like British Columbia?” he asked. “The answer is very complicated.”<\/p>\n
WATCH | Is B.C. still committed to $10-a-day child care? We asked the minister:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787203211_86_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Is B.C. still committed to $10-a-day child care? We asked the minister<\/p>\n
B.C. Child Care Minister Lisa Beare is defending her government’s progress on implementing universal $10-a-day child care, after a number of former B.C. NDP ministers wrote a letter saying the government had stalled on its progress in implementing the policy.<\/p>\n
Out of the 35 Canadian cities studied in the report,\u00a0B.C. cities are the priciest, with infant fees ranging from a median price of\u00a0$28-a-day in Kelowna to $52-a-day in Richmond.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Macdonald says B.C. parents are saving money since the province reached a deal with Ottawa on child-care funding in 2021, but the savings are between $300 to $500 a month. Parents in provinces with fee caps are saving much more, he said.<\/p>\n
6 provinces, territories cap fees<\/p>\n
Six provinces and territories \u2014 Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Nunavut \u2014 have capped child-care fees at $10 a day. <\/p>\n
Parents in Alberta pay a maximum of $15 a day, and $22 a day in Ontario.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While once seen as a pioneer in advancing $10-a-day universal child care, a spokesperson for the $10-a-day Child Care Campaign says the B.C. NDP government has now stalled on the issue. <\/p>\n
“We are laggards. And that’s exactly what the report says,” Sharon Gregson said. “Why is it that the B.C. government is so unable to do what other big provinces have been able to accomplish for child care?”<\/p>\n
LISTEN | What happened to $10-a-day child care in B.C.?<\/p>\n
BC Today24:03What happened to $10-a-day child care?<\/p>\n
Education and Child Care Minister Lisa Beare was not available for an interview. <\/p>\n
She said in a statement she’s concerned about structural inequities in the $10-a-day program, which is not based on a need but a lottery system.<\/p>\n
As a result, the B.C. government has put a three-year pause on expansion of the $10-a-day child-care program. <\/p>\n
“That\u2019s why we\u2019ve begun working with families, providers, Indigenous partners and the federal government to design a more inclusive, affordable and sustainable child care system for the future,” Beare said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":864611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48],"class_list":["post-864610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/864611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Text](\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/a\/assets\/texttospeech.svg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787203210_672_default.jpg\")
Ella Dalling says she joined daycare waitlists when she was pregnant with her first child. Her nine-month-old daughter Murph still doesn’t have a spot secured. (Submitted by Ella Dalling)<\/p>\n