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David Eby defends his family receiving $10-a-day child care, says he donated to centre

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Premier David Eby says his family donated to their child-care facility after they entered his BC NDP-led provincial government’s $10-a-day child-care program, responding to criticism from the Conservative Party of British Columbia that his higher-income household benefited from scarce subsidized spaces while other parents struggled to find affordable care.

The dispute emerged yesterday, when Eby confirmed to media that his family had accessed the program through a YMCA child-care facility.

In a subsequent statement, Eby said one of his children was already attending the facility when it became a designated $10-a-day centre a couple of years ago.

“When that occurred, we chose as a family to make a donation to that excellent facility. We felt that we did not need that discount and we wanted to make sure that the child-care centre could provide other supports for families in the community,” said Eby.

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He said his youngest child now attends the same child-care facility and the family plans to make another donation.

Eby’s statement did not disclose the amount of either donation or indicate whether the contributions would equal the savings his family received.

Conservative candidate Margareta Dovgal for Vancouver-Yaletown criticized Eby for benefiting from a program his government has not made widely available. The party pointed to his annual earnings of more than $227,000 as premier and his wife’s work as a physician.

“Nobody begrudges David Eby and his wife for their success. The Conservative Party of B.C. wants more British Columbians to succeed. What families will not accept is a Premier who promised them $10-a-day child care, failed to deliver it, and then took one of the scarce spots for himself while a single mom working two jobs sits on a waitlist,” said Dovgal.

However, the $10-a-day program has no income limit. Families at participating facilities can receive the reduced rate regardless of their earnings, with regular full-time care costing no more than $200 monthly per child.

The Conservatives did not provide evidence that Eby received preferential treatment in securing child care. The party asserts that designated $10-a-day spaces account for approximately 10 per cent of the province’s child-care spots.

Those designated spaces are only one part of B.C.’s subsidy system. Other participating providers receive funding to reduce parents’ fees, while eligible families can receive additional income-based assistance through the Affordable Child Care Benefit. These programs can bring some families’ costs to $10 a day or less outside designated $10-a-day facilities.

Access to the designated program nevertheless remains an issue. Earlier this year, the provincial government announced a pause on adding new providers to the $10-a-day program, while maintaining support for existing participants.

Meanwhile, the BC NDP questioned whether a Conservative government would maintain existing fee protections and subsidies.

The BC NDP asserts its fee reductions have cut average child-care costs by about half, or approximately $7,200 annually, and warned that reducing subsidies or removing fee protections could increase parents’ bills. But the warning concerned potential policy changes, not an announced Conservative decision to eliminate those supports.

The BC NDP also highlighted comments from Conservative child-care critic and Chilliwack North candidate Heather Maahs, including her support for a social media post proposing a per-child tax credit in place of subsidized spaces. Maahs argued that government funding disproportionately supports licensed child care while providing insufficient help to families relying on parents, relatives, or other arrangements.

“Public policy should support families in all their diversity, not attempt to steer them toward a single government-preferred model of care,” said Maahs.

During the 2017 provincial general election, John Horgan’s BC NDP promised to create a universal $10-a-day child-care system over 10 years, making affordable care available to every family that wanted or needed it. The plan would initially focus on children under two before expanding to other children below kindergarten age, with free child care for families earning less than $40,000 annually. A subsequent federal-provincial agreement signed in 2021 set a separate target: reduce average fees across regulated child-care spaces for children under six to $10 a day by 2025-2026, rather than guaranteeing every family an available $10-a-day space.

The provincial general election’s main voting day is Saturday, Oct. 24. Advance voting runs from Friday, Oct. 16 to Wednesday, Oct. 21, overlapping with the municipal elections across B.C. on Saturday, Oct. 17.

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