The B.C. government is inviting licensed child care providers to sign up for a pilot program to begin its universal child care plan.

The is to 害羞草研究所渕odel害羞草研究所� child care at a cost of $200 a month per child and use the results to plan an expanded program, says a statement released Friday by the provincial and federal governments.

害羞草研究所淭he new prototype sites, which will run from Sept. 1 2018 to March 31, 2020, will convert approximately 1,800 licensed child care spaces at existing facilities around the province into low-cost spaces for families,害羞草研究所� says the statement from the B.C. Ministry of Children and Family Development and Employment and Social Development Canada.

害羞草研究所淔or eligible families with an annual pre-tax income of less than $45,000, child care will be free at these facilities through the new , which will officially roll out in September 2018. Families with a pre-tax income under $111,000 will pay less than $10 a day.害羞草研究所�

B.C. Finance Minister Carole James introduced the government害羞草研究所檚 first step in subsidized child care in her February budget, funding licensed child care spaces to reduce parents害羞草研究所� fees up to $350 per month.

The pilot program will give priority to Indigenous parents and children, immigrants, parents under 25, francophone families, parents who work shift work or extended hours. Another priority group is described as 害羞草研究所渇amilies with children who have diverse/extra support needs and/or require inclusive child care spaces.害羞草研究所�

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are being offered for licensed child care providers eligible to apply.

The 1,800 spaces planned for the pilot program is the same number as the construction of new spaces announced by the previous B.C. Liberal government in 2016.

Projects in the Lower Mainland include six sites in Surrey, two each in Abbotsford, Langley and Coquitlam and one each in Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Burnaby, Delta and Squamish.

On Vancouver Island, funding was provided to three projects in Duncan and one each in Nanaimo, Victoria, Comox, Port Hardy and Tofino.

In the B.C. Interior, three projects were approved for Kelowna, two in Penticton, and one each in Naramata, Castlegar, Cranbrook, Enderby, Princeton, Houston, Kamloops, Merritt, Vanderhoof and Dawson Creek.

tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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