Child-care providers involved in B.C.’s much-touted $10-a-day daycare program are warning they might be forced to drop out if the NDP government forces them to limit staff salaries and benefits.

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Introduced in 2018 under then premier John Horgan, the $10-a-day program was meant to reduce child-care fees for parents and allow some to afford to return to the workforce.

But eight years in to the government’s 10-year plan, advocates say fewer than 10 per cent of spaces in B.C. are enrolled in the program, with most parents still paying more than $1,000 a month. The lucky few who have received a $10-a-day spot are paying about $200 a month.

Worse, many of the facilities that are enrolled in the program are being asked to sign new contracts that would provide them less money to operate, according to longtime advocate Sharon Gregson.

Gregson, the spokesperson for the $10aDay Campaign and the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C., said that under the province’s new model, staff could have their wages rolled back by as much as $6 an hour.

“Operators are saying that they cannot morally roll back their staff wages, and they know that if they tried to, their staff would leave and go somewhere else, and the quality for children would be directly impacted,” she said. “So they’re being forced to either opt out or consider opting out.”

In a statement, the Ministry of Education and Child Care said the new model “does not represent a cut” and “provides funding over the minimum staffing levels required by the licensing regulation.”

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It said the model was launched in 2023 with the idea of being “responsive to the real costs of delivering child care” while also barring provincial money from being used for ineligible expenses like personal leases and travel.

One of the facilities that said it could have to opt out if forced to accept the new model is Kiwassa Neighbourhood House, a non-profit that operates 90-95 child-care spaces at three locations in Metro Vancouver.

Kiwassa’s executive director, Darius Maze, said the new model does not fund staff beyond the minimum of three early-childhood educators for every 25 children, meaning that he’d have to cut staff or renegotiate contracts with current staff that would pay them less and provide them with fewer benefits.

It also wouldn’t provide funding for staff to get the training they need to get certified, and would only allow one of the three staff members on shift to get paid the full salary of $28-29 an hour, with the others having their salaries reduced to $23 an hour, and limit sick days to five a year from the current 12-18 that Kiwassa staff receive.

“We don’t want to have to choose between either paying them poorly or leaving $10-a-day, which would then, unfortunately, have an impact on families, because now they’re going back to paying $1,000 or more a month,” said Maze, who added that remaining in the $10-a-day program and maintaining salaries for staff would cost the society $500,000 a year.

“I think that’s the crux of our challenge with this new funding model. … It’s either at the expense of parents in our community or it’s at the expense of educators.”

Other providers are fearing having to make the same choice. Ellen Clague, executive director of the  Parkgate Society, said the society have had staff for 26 years that they would risk losing if they were to stay in the $10-a-day program under the new model.

She said the society recently opened a new child-care centre that is not in the $10-a-day program and is having to decide whether to apply to add it.

“We have families at Parkgate paying $200 a month, and we have families in our Lynn Creek site paying upwards of $1000 plus a month for essentially the same programs. So that’s certainly not equity,” said Clague.

For parents such as Vancouver teacher Melisa Pizzolato, finding a $10-a-day space is like “finding a unicorn.”

Pizzolato said she only knows of one parent who has gotten a space and most new parents sign up right when their child is born.

“I have friends in Prince Edward Island who are in $10 daycare. I have friends in Quebec who are $10-a-day. My brother’s in Ontario, his kids are in $10-a-day. I have a friend in Winnipeg on $10-a-day. Why is every other province getting to this $10-a-day, but we can’t,” said Pizzolato.

Former NDP cabinet minister Melanie Mark is one of six former NDP MLAs who joined Gregson and Katrina Chen, the former minister of state for child care who oversaw the establishment of the $10-a-day program, in signing an open letter addressed to David Eby this week calling for the province to recommit to the $10-a-day program. Labour and advocacy organizations also signed the letter.

Chen told Postmedia she understands the pressures facing the province as a result of tough economic conditions but that helping parents to return to the workforce by funding child care will help the economy, not hurt it.

“I’m sure that government will say they’ve been busy with other emergencies, but there are enough people in the public service, and there are enough ministers that have to dedicate the time to being proactive,” said Mark.

Eby says he understands the concerns of parents and operators when it comes to affordable child care, but that the province needs to proceed in a “sustainable” way.

He pointed to an agreement signed by the province with the federal government in 2021 that would have Ottawa support B.C. in implementing $10-a-day child care and said that, so far, that deal has failed to live up to expectations.

“We’re gonna have to ensure sustainability going forward. But our government remains committed to creating affordable spaces for parents. That’s why we passed a law to allow before and after school care on school grounds, looking to support school boards and be able to deploy those to ensure that parents have that support they need,” said Eby.

alazenby@postmedia.com