What’s to come for the future of childcare in BC?
Families deserve affordable childcare. Children deserve safe, enriching and emotionally attuned care. Educators and program operators deserve to be supported rather than to their breaking point. These truths should never be in conflict, yet under the current Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative (CCFRI), they increasingly are. This program and others are not all they’re promised to be and the headlines of supporting families with affordable childcare are merely a disguise from whats really happening within the tight constraints of the government and how this is impacting our children.
Across our province, childcare programs that are deeply committed to quality care are quietly reaching a place of crisis. The CCFRI and other government funded programs are voluntary in theory but coercive in practice. These programs are implementing new guidelines and requirements each year that are diminishing the sustainability of child care.
This is not about resistance to affordability
Childcare operators overwhelmingly support helping families afford care. Most entered CCFRI in good faith, believing they were partnering with government to build a stronger future for children and families. Instead, many now find themselves trapped in a model that steadily removes autonomy, stability, and the ability to plan while demanding more and more from each year.
An unstable foundation
Under the 2026/2027 CCFRI funding guidelines, participating programs face strict controls on parent fees, limited or reduced rate changes and escalating compliance requirements. What is rarely acknowledged is that the rules change every single year. New conditions, new interpretations and new limitations. all of which are introduced with little notice and no consultation with operators.
This unpredictability makes it nearly impossible for childcare programs to:
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Plan responsibly
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Invest in staff long-term
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Commit to wage increases
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Maintain quality improvements
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Or operate with any sense of financial security
No business, especially one responsible for vulnerable children, can thrive when the rules governing its survival are constantly shifting.
Rising costs, shrinking control
While fees are capped and restricted, the cost of operating a childcare program continues to rise:
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Educator wages and benefits
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Food costs
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Rent, utilities, insurance
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Training, compliance, and staffing shortages
Programs are expected to absorb these increases year after year, while being told they cannot adjust rates to reflect reality.
This is not how sustainability works.
This is how burnout and closures happen.
This is where childcare becomes dangerous.
Childcare is not an industry where “minimum” is acceptable
When programs are pushed to operate on razor-thin margins, something always gives:
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Staff turnover increases
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Experienced educators leave the sector all together
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Emotional capacity shrinks
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Innovation disappears
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And children feel the impact first
We are not flipping burgers, we are caring for children during their most formative years. An industry entrusted with the safety, emotional wellbeing, and development of young children cannot function on bare minimums without consequence.
The $10/day model and the silence it requires
Operators in the $10/day model are not permitted to make public announcements, comments, or statements regarding the subject matter of their funding agreement. This includes media interactions and comments to third parties, such as parents. Why are the people caring for your children not allowed to speak openly about the terms under which they operate? In an industry built on trust, transparency should be non-negotiable.
Programs that participate in the $10/day childcare stream are now facing penalties should they choose to leave the program and re-join or join CCFRI.
Who is being squeezed the hardest?
Ironically, the programs most at risk under CCFRI are often those striving to do things differently and those who offer care that goes beyond basic compliance. The system does not distinguish between minimum-standard care and exceptional care. Everyone is treated the same until quality quietly erodes or programs are forced to close their doors. This is a reality we are already facing and one we will continue to see increasingly at an alarming rate if we don’t demand change soon.
Families are already paying the price
When quality programs close families lose choice, educators lose passion, communities lose stability and children lose continuity and safety. Affordability without sustainability is not a solution. It is a slow dismantling of quality, one that unfortunately shows in our children over time.
Why childcare must remain a fair market
Government plays a critical role in supporting families with the real cost of childcare. Quality care is expensive to provide, and public investment matters. What is deeply concerning, however, is the direction this support is taking.
With the increasing restrictions embedded in CCFRI, childcare is moving away from a supported market and toward a government-controlled system, where programs are increasingly expected to operate in uniform ways. This approach carries serious risks. A fully controlled childcare system does not prioritize:
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Educator wellbeing, wages, or long-term retention
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The individual emotional, developmental, or cultural needs of children
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Diverse family values and parenting philosophies
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Innovation, specialization, or excellence in care
It also does not guarantee that the families most in need are the ones accessing spaces. Universal price caps may look equitable on the surface, but without income-based targeting, affordability does not automatically equal fairness.
Fair market does not mean unregulated
A fair market childcare system does not mean a lack of standards or oversight. Licensing and safety regulations must remain strong. What a fair market does mean is this:
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Programs have the autonomy to reflect their values, pedagogy, and quality in their pricing
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Families are empowered to choose care that aligns with their needs and beliefs
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Government support is directed to families rather than controlling providers
When childcare operates within a fair market:
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Programs must earn the trust of families
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They must continuously evolve and improve to remain viable
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Quality becomes a competitive advantage, not an afterthought
If a program charges fees that cannot be justified by the care they provide, families will not choose them. They will not succeed. That is how accountability naturally works.
Competition raises the standard for our children
When programs must compete to fill their spaces, they are driven to be better:
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Better environments
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Better educator support
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Better communication with families
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Better outcomes for children
This competition does not harm children, it protects them. It ensures that programs cannot survive on minimum effort, minimum staffing, or minimum investment. It forces growth, reflection, and responsiveness.
The risk of uniform control
A system that forces childcare programs to operate uniformly under capped fees, rigid structures, and constant rule changes, removes the very conditions that allow quality to thrive. When innovation is discouraged and autonomy is stripped away, what remains is not excellence, it is survival mode. And survival mode is not where children flourish.
A better way forward
There is a solution that balances affordability, fairness, and quality. The Affordable Child Care Benefit (ACCB) has been around for over a decade. This program looks at the annual household income for families and determines a monthly discount based on the rates of the program they choose to attend and their personal household income. Currently under this program only families whose annual household income is $111,000 or less are eligible. The solution is this:
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Merge CCFRI & $10/day into the ACCB model by providing a base funding amount to all families attending a Licensed childcare facility
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Significantly raise the ACCB household income cap so additional support is relevant on an individual level
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Allow programs to set fees that reflect their quality and operating realities
This would:
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Support families who truly need affordability assistance
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Restore choice for families to attend programs that align with their values and not just their budget
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Encourage continuous quality improvement
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Allow strong programs to survive and excellent ones to thrive
Childcare is the foundation of our future communities. When systems prioritize optics over sustainability, everyone loses, especially our children. We need a model that supports families without breaking the very programs entrusted with their children. Providers are not asking for special treatment.
They are asking for stability, transparency, and the ability to do their work well.
For the sake of our children, this path must change.