At a national conference this week, operators raised concerns that subsidized child care is not helping low-income families and hurting centres

Since the start of Ottawa’s $10-a-day program, Sandra Christian has had many families leave her private child-care centre in B.C. for a spot in a subsidized centre.

But that’s not what worries her — child-care services are in high demand so empty spots get filled quickly.

What worries her and her office manager, Carley Babiarz, is some of these families have said the money they’ve saved on child care has helped them buy a second property.

“We don’t believe that that’s the intention of the [$10-a-day] program,” said Babiarz, who works at the Creative Kids Learning Centers, which has nine locations in Surrey, Langley and Chilliwack, B.C. “It doesn’t best suit our low-income… families.”

Many other child-care workers shared the same opinion at the first national conference for child-care operators, hosted by the Association of Alberta Childcare Entrepreneurs on Tuesday.

  • @streetfestivalOPEnglish
    11•15 days ago

    With greedflation these days, one’s hardpressed to buy lunch for $10. People who are in a position to buy a second property being eligible for such hugely subsidized daycare is nuts imo

    • @m0darn
      8•14 days ago

      As a parent with a kid in child care, my feeling is that it’s more efficient to make programs available to everyone, and manage wealth disparity with effective taxation.

      I think people are more likely to support the funding of programs that they can use. And it’s better to avoid segregating children by economic status.

    • FiveMacs
      4•15 days ago

      It’s this type of behaviours that justifies some people’s destire to abolish extra money/grants/sense of entitlement just because people had sex and had kids.

      • @streetfestivalOPEnglish
        5•15 days ago

        Fair enough. I’m pro supporting families myself. I’m against wealthy people helping themselves to things intended for working class families. It sounds like the government didn’t put the necessary checks and balances in place to ensure the subsidies go to those who need them

        • @girlfreddy
          8•15 days ago

          These subsidies cost Canadian taxpayers at least $6.03 billion, or roughly $214 per taxpayer every year. Source

          Maybe we could take half of the O&G subsidies and tax breaks to properly fund daycares instead.

          • @streetfestivalOPEnglish
            5•15 days ago

            Taxpayer dollars going back to taxpayers (and increasing their living conditions) instead of corporate executives and shareholders of businesses that are destroying our planet and causing all sorts of problems for us and other living creatures?! What a radical idea. I’m all for it