The two governments will work to reach an average $10 per day cost for kids under six years old in regulated daycares before 2027. The partnership will also create 30,000 new spaces in the province over five years and cut fees for regulated spaces in half by the end of 2022. (The Canadian Press)

Talking point: The partnership is the first to materialize from the Liberals’ up to $30-billion commitment in its most recent budget to help provinces and territories reduce most of Canada’s high child-care costs. It’s not surprising B.C. is the first signatory. In 2018, it announced its plan to bring universal child care to the province. Since then it has faced ongoing criticism of a slow rollout, especially with just $233 million set aside in its most recent budget to expand its pilot program. The pandemic and ensuing she-cession that forced more women out of paid work and into full-time caregiving roles thrust the need for a national child-care program into the forefront, prompting the question how Canada has neglected to implement a national policy despite recommendations to do so as early as 1970. The announcement comes as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appears poised for a summer election—a notion he’s refuted.