Premier rejects grieving mom’s plea for $10-a-day child care
Posted April 7, 2017 6:53 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Premier Christy Clark is offering her condolences to the parents of a toddler who recently died at an un-licensed daycare, but she continues to reject ongoing pleas for ten-dollar-a-day child care in BC.
“Eight thousand in the next three years, I think, is a doable number.”
Clark’s response comes after Baby Mac’s mother, Shelly Sheppard, posted an open letter on social media pleading for ten-dollar-per-day child care in BC.
“I only have one child and I can tell you, the thought for any mother of losing a child is just the worse possible thing that can happen to anybody.”
Clark says implementing a universal daycare system would cost too much, but she is promising nearly eight thousand spaces are coming over the next three years.
“That’s a really good start because these will be licensed and regulated spaces. I think most parents really prefer that over an unlicensed space if that’s what they can find.”
She adds Quebec’s nearly 20-year-old universal system has major problems.
“There ended up being a four year waitlist for, in some cases, to get child care. A ten dollar a day daycare program in Quebec meant that a lot of people started rushing to put their kids into un-licensed, un-regulated spaces. We don’t need that to happen in British Columbia.”
Sheppard’s 15-month old son died at an East Vancouver house on January 18th only two days after being placed in the care of an un-licensed provider.
The cause of his death is still under investigation.
