The YMCA Highland Development Centre is among 53 across the province where families are paying no more than $200 a month per child under a "universal child care prototype project."
It was selected after a call for applications in June and is receiving government funding to cover operational and administration costs in exchange for the cap on the monthly fee for 84 spaces, the federal and provincial governments said Friday.
Participating providers will also give feedback on the success of the program, which will continue until March 31, 2020.
The provincial government initially planned to convert 1,800 spaces strictly for infants and toddlers. But when more than 300 operators applied to participate, the federal government agreed to chip in enough money to raise the total to 2,500 spaces representing all age groups and licensed child care types.
"This project takes a major step towards universal child care in British Columbia," said federal Children and Family Development Minister Katrine Conroy in a statement. "The demand for this was so strong that we expanded it to cover more children and more sites in every region of the province in the prototype stage."
The project will cost $60 million and was launched at 43 sites across B.C. on November 1. A further 10 are to start on December 1.
Parents unable to get their children into participating centres are still eligible for the affordable child care benefit, which provides up to $1,250 per child a month for families with an annual income of $111,000 or less.
