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How Canadian provinces are taking on affordable child care — and how it compares to the world

Click to play video: 'Affordable child care crunch across Canada'
Affordable child care crunch across Canada
WATCH: The Alberta NDP is hoping an affordable child care plan will help sway voters when they head to the polls next month. If re-elected, they're promising to cap child care fees at $25 a day — less than half of what many Canadian parents pay. Heather Yourex-West looks at the disparity facing young families across the country and what the federal and provincial governments are doing about it – Mar 26, 2019

Alberta’s New Democrats have unveiled an election pledge that would expand its $25-a-day child care plan.

The province’s NDP Leader Rachel Notley said the price cap would apply no matter what a parent has been currently paying for child care, and expands a pilot program that capped daycare costs at $25 daily at 7,300 spaces in 122 locations.

WATCH: Notley promises to expand $25-a-day daycare in Alberta

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Notley promises to expand $25-a-day daycare in Alberta

READ MORE: Child care costs drop in some Canadian cities, but still remain high in others, study says

“Anything that holds Alberta women back, holds Alberta back.” Notley said.

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Prices across Canada

While the province has Canada’s largest gap between men and women in labour force participation, it’s not the only place in Canada where daycare costs have been a source of controversy.

Families across Canada have been pushing for governments to help lower the costs. And it’s something think-tank Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives keeps close tabs on.

In February, the organizations reported that daycare prices across Canada have dropped — or barely inched up — in some Canadian cities in what might be early signs of the influence of federal child-care money.

WATCH: B.C. NDP government unveils $10-a-day child care ‘prototypes’

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NDP government unveils $10-a-day child care ‘prototypes”

READ MORE: The cost of raising a child? Now there’s a calculator for that

However, it also noted that fees for full-time, regulated child-care spaces have risen faster than inflation in 61 per cent of cities reviewed.

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The fees were highest in Toronto and the surrounding area, where fees for children under 18 months average $1,685, and $1,150 a month for older preschoolers.

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Cities in Quebec had the lowest fees for full-time, regulated spaces across the country, followed by Winnipeg and Charlottetown — in the three provinces that have fixed fees for years.

David MacDonald, a senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, explained to Global News that three provinces have intervened in child care and set fees at lower costs than the market rate.

Quebec, Manitoba and P.E.I. have lowered the costs for residents by setting a maximum price, MacDonald said.

WATCH: New Brunswick PCs expand on Liberals daycare plan, offering designation to home-based centres

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PCs expand on Liberals daycare plan, offering designation to home-based centres

“They’re making up the difference as a transfer to providers,” he noted. “In the Canadian context, that appears to be the most effective way of reducing child-care fees for parents.”

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He cited Montreal as an example, where the average daycare cost is around $200 per month.

READ MORE: ‘Not enough spaces’ — Families share child care wait-list nightmares

MacDonald added that three other provinces are mulling similar moves — Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador and British Columbia. He also noted the federal government has signed bilateral agreements to support provinces who take on lowering child care costs.

“I don’t think there can be any doubt that the federal money is helping to expand those programs possibly more rapidly or possibly to more spaces.”

University of Manitoba professor Susan Prentice, who specializes in child care policies, explained to Global News Quebec will have cheaper child care than Alberta even if Notley’s pledge materializes.

“The leader in Canada for child care has been for over two decades, Quebec,” Prentice said. “Their child care is much more developed and much more affordable.”

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Executive Committee asks for report on options for tax exemptions for Regina daycares

How other countries compare

But Prentice said Nordic countries are “miles ahead” the rest of the world when it comes to nationally subsidized child care programs, specifically highlighting Sweden.

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In Sweden, Prentice said municipalities must have a child care spot ready within three months of a request.

“The average family pays between three and five per cent of their family income, and often less,” she added.

According to a survey by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development based on 2016 statistics, parents in Sweden spend around four per cent of their family income on child care — among the lowest in the world.

WATCH: Looking at the costs of child care during summer holidays

Click to play video: 'Looking at the costs of child care during summer holidays'
Looking at the costs of child care during summer holidays

Other countries that rank the lowest — all under five per cent — on spending include Austria, Greece and Hungary.

The average cost of child care in the international group is 15 per cent of net family income.

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Canada is above the average, with residents spending an average of 22.2 per cent of their family income on child care.

The United Kingdom ranks the most expensive in the group at 33.8 per cent of family income going toward child care. The United States was at 25.6 per cent.

READ MORE: How much child care cash do you qualify for? New website, application process goes live

A recent blog on the World Economic Forum‘s website also noted that Nordic nations are the best place to have kids, financially speaking.

Beyond Sweden, it noted that child care costs in Denmark are capped 30 per cent of the actual cost, with the government covering the rest.

Finland has a universal free daycare program for children eight months and older, until they begin schooling at seven years of age.

WATCH: The push to subsidize daycare costs across Canada

Click to play video: 'The push to subsidize daycare costs across Canada'
The push to subsidize daycare costs across Canada

— With files from Global News reporter Heather Yourex-West and The Canadian Press

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