Government officials chose the site of a new child care centre to announce expansion of their $10-a-day child care plan yesterday.

The event was held in the parking lot of the new YMCA centre, which is not finished yet, on St. Michael’s Avenue in St. John’s.

The expansion is part of a three-year plan to spend more than $280 million on improving access and increasing the hours for early learning and child care services across the province.

Starting in the fall, funding will be available to child care providers for a trial run of extended daytime and overnight care.

Both MP Gudie Hutchings and Education Minister Krista Lynn Howell were asked what was new about Friday’s announcement.

“It’s now tweaking the details of the agreement to extend the hours. We all know it’s not one size fits all — you have rotational workers, you have people working overnight, it’s expanding spaces, it’s getting into more rural areas,” said Hutchings

Howell expanded on the expansions.

“We’re working on a pilot for non-standard hours and overnight care, recognizing that there is a need here in the province for those types of services as well.”

Howell said the province is also working with three home-based providers, for starters, to test drive the expanded hours in the fall.