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Thousands of families in B.C. can now take advantage of the province's $10-a-day child care services after 84 new locations were announced.
The province's NDP government has been rolling out new sites since 2018 and currently offers 6,500 spaces. It allows parents making less than $45,000 to receive 100% funding and those making up to $111,000 can receive partial funding.
"We believe child care should be a core service that families can count on when they need it, at a price they can afford," said Katrina Chen, Minister of State for Child Care.
"We've heard from families that receiving $10 a day child care is life changing. That's why, as part of our ChildCareBC plan, we've committed to making low-cost child care a reality for families," she added.
In recent months, the plan has been criticized for its slow rollout, with CTV reporting that the province has a total of 126,000 potential child care spaces, despite only 6,500 of those being included in this $10-a-day child care plan.
The Vancouver Sun also reported that some child care operators were warning parents of extra fees, claiming that they had not received their subsidies from the B.C. government.
However, Leah Zielinsk, who uses the $10-a-day child care, describes it as a huge win for her family.
She said, "We are now paying $200 a month for full-time child care for my four-year-old daughter instead of $1,200 a month. This is such a relief for so many families, especially after a few years of the pandemic, and it's an even bigger deal for families who have more than one child in in full-time child care."
In addition to the $10-a-day child care program, the B.C. government said tens of thousands of parents are saving up to $1,600 a month per child through other child care investments such as the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative and the Affordable Child Care Benefit.