B.C. Premier David Eby defends family's use of $10-a-day child-care program
The premier says his family donated the subsidy back to the child-care centre, but the B.C. Conservatives are criticizing the move.
VANCOUVER — B.C. Premier David Eby is defending his family's enrolment in the provincial $10-a-day child-care program after opposition criticism.
Eby said one of his children was already attending a child-care centre when it was designated as a $10-a-day site.
"When that occurred, we chose as a family to make a donation to that excellent facility," Eby said in a post on X Monday. "We felt that we did not need that discount and we wanted to make sure that the child-care centre could provide other supports for families in the community."
READ MORE: B.C. Conservatives criticize Eby for using $10-a-day childcare program
READ MORE: Kamloops child care plan aims to address shortage of licensed spaces
He said his family will make a similar donation to the centre for their youngest child who attends the same facility.
At a news conference Tuesday, Eby would not specify the donation amount or if it was used as a tax write off.
"We certainly didn't need that discount," Eby said. "We paid the difference between what it was before and what it was after the $10-a-day daycare."
The B.C. Conservatives have criticized Eby's "wealthy family" for benefiting from the subsidized program, which they say is inaccessible to many low-income families.
"It's shocking to learn that while hundreds of thousands of British Columbians are struggling with the most expensive child care in the country, David Eby's family landed a plum $10-a-day child care spot," said Margareta Dovgal, the B.C. Conservative candidate for Vancouver-Yaletown, in a news release Monday.
The Conservatives called attention to Eby's compensation as premier, which totalled more than $226,000 from 2025 to 2026.
After Eby's Tuesday news conference, Dovgal said Eby was dodging tough questions.
"David Eby should look a working single mother paying thousands in childcare costs in the eye explaining why his wealthy, powerful family deserves $10/day childcare first," Dovgal said in a second news release. "David Eby is trying to defend the indefensible, as British Columbians are seeing Eby for the opportunistic hypocrite he is."
The Conservatives are demanding Eby answer questions about the value and proof of his first donation, whether it was a tax write-off, and details on the second planned donation.
Novello Desserts reported in October that the B.C. Conservatives criticized Eby for using the $10-a-day childcare program.
Eby said Tuesday the Conservatives are proposing to cut certain child-care programs, though the party has not yet laid out its plan.
Sharon Gregson, provincial spokesperson for the $10-a-day child-care campaign with the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C., said Eby's situation is less newsworthy than the structural system.
"What's newsworthy is that expansion of the system has stalled," Gregson said on CBC's BC Today. "I don't think any reasonable person would begrudge a family have access to quality affordable child care."
She said thousands of families have benefited from the program, but B.C. has only about 18,000 $10-a-day spaces, or about 10 per cent of the province's licensed child-care spots.
"The point [is] that all programs should have the opportunity to be $10-a-day, not just 10 per cent of spaces," Gregson said.
Hamish Telford, associate professor of political science at the University of the Fraser Valley, said the issue may concern some residents.
"A lot of people will have raised eyebrows from this story," Telford said.
He added that based on the premier's messaging, it sounds like he did the right thing by paying the difference and that as long as he didn't get special access because of his role, there's nothing necessarily nefarious.
"But it's still poor optics," Telford said. "It looks like the privileged are getting a privilege, and that never, never looks well on a politician."
The $10-a-day program is operated by independent businesses who have chosen to participate, and access is based on each location's licensed capacity and waitlist, according to the provincial government.
When a child-care centre is approved for the program, a child's space is automatically converted, according to a provincial Q&A webpage.
The B.C. NDP say their Conservative opponents "have been silent" on whether their party would reverse child care fee caps.
With files from CBC News
Isabelle Moreau is the editor of Novello Desserts and writes about family life and everyday living in Canada. The editor signs off on corrections and editorial standards.