The future of child care lies in partnerships, according to Linda Reid, B.C.’s minister of state for child care…

Although none of the new child care spaces will be in the Tri-Cities, Reid said the announcement was only the beginning….

But she said creating numerous new child care spaces isn’t an easy task and it relies a lot on partnerships.

“I would love to be able to open child care spaces in every region of the province, but it’s difficult to build a lot of spaces at once,” she said. “We’re looking for bigger partners and are in line to continue our partnership with B.C. Housing.”

The New Westminster, Kamloops and Port Alberni projects were chosen, according to Reid, on the basis of available space, the number of children and the amount of child care operators available. She hopes to see the projects open within the next six months.

Although she “would love to see any housing go forward,” she also said new child care spaces could be created with the proper use of buildings.

“The whole discussion is about the better utilization of space,” she said. “There are a lot of communities that are looking to create child care spaces on the first floor of apartment buildings.”

The Ministry of Children and Family Development has committed $2.5 million to funding the partnership. In order to mitigate the loss of the 2005 Early Learning and Child Care agreement (ELCC) that the federal government cancelled last March, the province increased its per day, per space child care funding rates for children under three….