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By Victor Kaisar

Child Care Spaces

Kamloops Councillor advocating for better access to affordable childcare

Oct 7, 2025 | 9:30 AM

KAMLOOPS — A Kamloops City Councillor is calling on the rest of her colleagues to lobby the Provincial Government to follow through on its plans to increase access to affordable childcare options.

At Tuesday’s (Oct. 7) meeting, councillors are set to discuss a notice of motion from Dale Bass, who believes the Province is not living up to its own promises.

“The government under John Horgan committed to creating $10/day daycare spaces. This government is not fulfilling that promise,” Bass said. “Without that, many people particularly in this economy cannot afford to have their children is childcare. That’s an economic issue.”

Bass’ motion is calling on the Province to increasing funding for early childhood educators, to fund new and existing $10/day childcare centres, and to invest in new childcare facilities.

Speaking to CFJC Today, Bass said the lack of daycare spaces affects parents, caregivers, children and the local economy.

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“When the $10/day daycare came in, the Kamloops Child Development Centre was the first to get it,” Bass said. “We had families come in saying ‘we can now start to save money for a down payment. We aren’t going to have to scrimp and save.'”

“That is why we need to do this. When we aren’t supporting our children, we aren’t supporting our families, we aren’t supporting our workers, and we’re not supporting our city.”

The City of Kamloops is currently in the process of seeking feedback via a pair of surveys this fall as it works on a childcare action plan. Staff hope their work will provide a clear picture of how the city can improve childcare in Kamloops

“There’s just a lack of childcare. There are lots of people on the waitlist. I know parents who have been on waitlists for multiple years. The desire for childcare is there and the need for childcare is there. We are embarking on a childcare action plan,” Natasha Hartson, the city’s social, housing and community development manager said.

Earlier this year, a pair of childcare projects in Kamloops were not funded by the Province.

One such proposal was the city’s plan to build a new daycare at the Parkview Activity Centre near McDonald Park as part of Build Kamloops, while the other was a proposal from the Early Learning Society of Kamloops that was seeking to open a new daycare in the Sagebrush neighbourhood

Both of those projects unsuccessfully sought funding from the ChildCareBC New Spaces Fund, as the Province said the grant program was oversubscribed.

While the Province is currently forecasting an unprecedented deficit, Bass said its a matter of prioritization, noting the provincial government was able to find millions to spend on host FIFA World Cup matches next year.

“Which is going to benefit, I guess, the economy down on the coast,” Bass said. “But how many childcare centres would that have built? How many seats would that have provided in childcare centres? Priorities matter, and while I understand that tourism also matters, I think children matter more. I think the future matters more, and children are the future.”

Childcare falls under the responsibility of the provincial government, Bass said, noting the City of Kamloops has brought in a 10 year revitalization tax exemption for new day care builds.

“But in order to build, you’ve got to get the money and the two that were turned down were applying for the John Horgan-created fund that would fund childcare centres,” Bass said. “When I met with the minister at UBCM, she said there were ‘way more requests that there was money available.’ But that tells you that we need to be doing this.”

“[The Minister] said ‘they filled about a fifth of the requests’ so that’s an awful lot of other locations that need childcare that aren’t getting it.

Should Kamloops City Council support Bass’ motion on Tuesday, she intends to bring it up as a discussion point at the next Southern Interior Local Government Association (SILGA) convention and the next Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) convention for support and broader advocacy to the provincial government.