After almost two months of uncertainty about BC’s political future, the Lieutenant Governor asked BC NDP leader John Horgan to form government. With the BC NDP’s commitment to implement the $10aDay Child Care Plan, the BC Green Party’s alignment on key aspects of the Plan, and the BC Liberals support for substantial investment in child care, the upcoming change in government marks a huge win for child care in BC. And, the historic Agreement between the BC New Democratic Party and the BC Green Party signals that we can expect to see immediate positive changes for child care in our province.

Congratulations to Premier-Elect Horgan and the BC NDP, and to all of you - the Plan’s incredible supporters! As John Horgan said himself:

“We plan by year five to have 66,000 new spaces and the $10-a-day plan, which has been advocated not by me, not by Greens, not by Liberals, but by child care providers and advocates who have been working on these issues for a decade. I believe it’s a plan that can work, and we’re going to implement it.”

— John Horgan, BC NDP Leader & Premier-Elect of British Columbia
(Source: Global News)

Now, our job is to ensure that $10aDay child care remains a top priority for our new government and that implementation moves forward quickly according to the Plan. The Plan calls for initial steps to be: parent fees reduced in all infant & toddler spaces, a significant increase in the number of licensed spaces, and investment in the early childhood educator workforce. A new quality system won’t happen overnight but with the correct steps it can start to be built right away.

The BC NDP is already hard at work assembling a team to facilitate the transition to power, and Premier-Elect Horgan will name his cabinet ministers on July 18th. We expect to see the new Minister of Education responsible for child care and early learning. Once a cabinet is appointed we’ll be calling on you to help send a clear message to all members of our new government that ending the child care chaos in BC by implementing the $10aDay Plan must be an immediate priority.

So stay tuned. In the meantime, congratulations again and thank you so much for your ongoing support!