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INDEPTH: DAY CARE
Day care: cost to parents
CBC News Online | February 9, 2005

Day care fees vary widely across the country. In most cases, the table below shows the median cost to parents every month for full-time centre-based child care.

The exceptions include:
  • Alberta, where the average fee for all age groups is listed
  • Northwest Territories, where the average fee for infants and pre-schoolers is listed
  • Manitoba, where the provincial government sets maximum fees for all children in funded centre-based and family child care programs. Centres that do not receive any government funding are free to set their own rates
Note: In Quebec, $7-a-day day care is available - but all those spaces are allocated and there are long waiting lists. Rates at private day-care centres are much higher than those at the official $7-a-day centres.

Province / TerritoryInfants
(0-17 mos) $		Toddlers
(18 mos-3 yrs) $		Preschoolers
(3-5 yrs) $		School Age
(5-12 yrs)
Newfoundland & Labrador n/a380360n/a
Prince Edward Island520432412n/a
Nova Scotia565490488357
New Brunswick482418418227
Québec477455440420
Ontario783603541n/a
Manitoba**408-560408-560328-376229-341
Saskatchewan481420384277
Alberta *** 522.84
British Columbia705662494419
Northwest Territories ***600
Yukon Territory630550514250
Nunavut577577577n/a




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Universal Child Care Plan

Statistics Canada: Child Care in Canada (PDF file)

OECD report: Early Childhood Education and Care in Canada (Oct. 26, 2004) (PDF file)

From Patchwork to Framework: A child-care strategy for Canada (The Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada) (PDF file)

The Quality Gap: A study of non-profit and commercial child-care centres in Canada (PDF file)
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