Hennessy's Index: A number is never just a number -- Child care costs vs. university tuition

EXCERPTS:

• $11,100: Average annual cost of child care for a toddler in Ontario in 2012. Compare that to the $7,180 average cost of university tuition fees in Ontario in 2012/13.

• $10,884: Average annual cost of child care for a toddler in British Columbia in 2012. That's double the $5,015 average cost of university tuition fees in B.C. in 2012/13.

...

• $1,824: The annual child care bill for all parents in Quebec in 2012, thanks to that province's $7 a day flat rate child care program. Tuition Quebec is also more affordable: it was $2,774 in 2012/13 for average undergraduate tuition. 

• $100: Amount of the federal government's monthly payment to families with children under the age of six instead of investing in a universally affordable Canadian child care plan. 

• 70,000: Number of newly employed Quebec moms in 2008, thanks to that province's child care program. Research shows that for every dollar Quebec invests in affordable child care, it brings back $1.05 into the economy.

read online at CCPA