The Quebec dream of universal subsidized state daycare is coming to B.C., but slowly.

Premier John Horgan signalled the priority he places on $10-a-day child care by personally making an announcement last week that an additional 300 training spaces are being added to the province鈥檚 post-secondary school system. The $2.7 million over three years will double the number of training spaces across the province to 800.

(In politics, funding commitments are announced over and over, first as a global budget figure, then annual or regional amounts, unless the priority quietly changes or taxpayers鈥� money runs low. This provides a steady diet of 鈥淕ainsburgers鈥� to feed the news media, as U.S. political strategists used to say.)

The slogan of $10-a-day child care was embraced by Horgan鈥檚 NDP in the 2017 election, then dropped as pilot projects indicated some people get it for less, or even free. Now the slogan is back for some reason, as segments of B.C.鈥檚 $1 billion commitment to build, staff and subsidize new daycare spaces roll out.

Funding additional early childhood educator training is one thing; getting students to fill the seats is another. The B.C. government is pushing to graduate more care aides for seniors homes as well, and competing for the same pool of potential employees.

When the $1 billion child care budget came out in February 2018, UBC economics professor Mariana Adshade questioned whether it is practical.

鈥淚n this current economy, where unemployment is at record lows, we鈥檙e going to find 6,000 daycare workers?鈥� Adshade said. 鈥淚t has none of the benefits of being a teacher. It pays essentially minimum wage. You work 12 months of the year. I do not know where they think these workers are coming from.鈥�

The NDP government wants to increase wages too, and not just the minimum wage. A daycare operator told the Saanich 亚洲天堂 last year that she couldn鈥檛 open a new location because offering $19 to $21 an hour plus benefits wasn鈥檛 enough.

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Since we鈥檙e approaching a federal election, I鈥檒l suggest that immigration is one place B.C. will get new workers for these fields. That鈥檚 certainly the history of filling lower-paid jobs.

The federal election may also continue a philosophical discussion of the role of the state vs. the family. Kris Sims, B.C. director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, has described the NDP鈥檚 vision as 鈥淏ig Daycare,鈥� where early childhood educators run state daycares so parents can go to work at other jobs.

This isn鈥檛 how child-rearing takes place for the majority of parents. For many, it鈥檚 informal, involving extended family members, or even 鈥渋llegal鈥� as people take in daycare children without licensing and inspection.

The NDP鈥檚 nanny state vision is similar to its concept of health care, where huge public resources are being directed at making sure no one pays for their medically necessary procedures. An epic battle against private clinics drags on in B.C. courts, as the resources of federal and provincial governments are poured into delaying tactics to outlast or outlive Cambie Surgery Centre founder Dr. Brian Day, in a case the governments fear they will eventually lose.

Quebec鈥檚 daycare is criticized for being affordable only because Ottawa send billions to Quebec in transfer payments, and for helping mainly professionals who have the resources to be first in line.

Here in B.C., NDP politicians are outraged by suggestions one parent might opt to stay home.

Tom Fletcher is B.C. legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press Media. Email: tfletcher@blackpress.ca

tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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