B.C. moves toward universal child care with $10-a-day project at 53 sites

VICTORIA – Child care in British Columbia will soon cost as little as $200 a month for some parents in the province.

Children’s Minister Katrine Conroy says the $10-a-day plan is a prototype and will start at 53 day cares around B.C.

She says in a statement the project looks to become a model for the New Democrat government’s 10-year plan for affordable, quality child care.

The $60 million project is part of the Early Learning and Child Care Agreement the province has with the federal government and will benefit about 2,500 children.

B.C.’s minister of state for child care Katrina Chen says these prototypes are critical as the government designs and refines its program.

She says B.C.’s child care plan already offers families with incomes of $111,000 or less benefits of up to $1,250 a month and other fee reductions for families using licensed child care.