Just one day before the BC government is set to deliver its throne speech, Premier Christy Clark announced she and the Liberals intend to amend the budget and invest $1 billion into childcare.
Unveiled this morning at a BC Liberal Women’s Lunch, the plan includes 73,000 more child care spaces over four years (13,000 promised in the campaign, 60,000 brand new spaces), 4,000 bursaries for aspiring workers, and serious cuts to service costs.
“In general, it’s going to mean that every family that earns up to $60,000 a year will get a full subsidy for their child care, then all families from $60,000-$100,000 will be eligible for a partial subsidy.”
Clark didn’t share many details today, stating more information would be explained in Thursday’s throne speech, however, she did estimate this plan could mean 150,000 children could be eligible for a subsidy once their parents can find a child care space.
The government tabled a balanced budget back in February, so finding a cool $1 billion raised some eyebrows at the event.
“We’ve had a much bigger than expected surplus this year,” she explains, “what that tells me is the economy is growing even faster than any of us predicted and given that it’s done that for the past three years, this is now money that we can put to work in British Columbia.”
Clark was vague but is promising bigger investments into the environment, reducing wait times for seniors, unveiling a province-wide poverty reduction plan, and addressing the rural/urban divide in tomorrow’s throne speech.
Clark did confirm the Speaker of the House will be a Liberal MLA.
With files from Spencer Gowan