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.
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.