Canada’s national daycare may cost billions of dollars more than estimated by the federal government, causing fewer Canadians families to benefit from it or accept a widely accessible but low-quality care unless provinces fork out more money to handle the shortfalls, according to a report. Released by think tank Cardus on Thursday, the report estimates that Canada’s universal child care program will cost between $17 billion and $36.3 billion by 2025, depending on how the program is implemented. The low-cost model, which projected $17 billion, is only possible with the poorest staff-to-child ratios currently in place in Quebec, the authors noted, adding that the Quebec system has shown to be of “poor quality and has negative outcomes for children and parents alike” by peer-reviewed research. The high-cost model requires provinces to chip in $23.3 billion to cover the remaining cost after federal funding and parents fees are considered, if the quality of …