The number of Canadian children in child care has jumped significantly during the past eight years, a study reveals.

The findings, released Wednesday by Statistics Canada, show around 54 per cent of children aged between six months and five years were in child care in 2002-2003, up from 42 per cent in 1994-1995.

Tracey Bushnik, who authored the report, said that there has also been a shift in the main types of care that children are in.

"It (the report) informs Canadians as to what types of care have been used in the last eight years, what the shifts in the types of care have been, how types of care have changed," Bushnik told CTV.

In 2002-2003, three forms of care (day-care centres, child care outside the home by a non-relative and care by a relative inside or outside the home) each accounted for about 30 per cent of all child care.

"The remaining small proportion consisted of children in care in their own home with a non-relative, such as a nanny, and in other forms of care such as nursery schools or pre-schools," the StatsCan report said.

Care outside the home by a relative was the most common form of child care used by families with two working parents in 2002-2003.

For single working parent families, daycare was the most common option.

The report also said there was a decline in child care outside the home by a non-relative, even though that option was the most sought-after choice for families.

The decrease was offset by an increase in the use of care by relatives and a rise in the use of day-care centres.

The findings show that no single form of child care stands out across the country, with patterns differing by region as well as by the child's background and family characteristics.

"Quebec and Manitoba accounted for much of the growth in the use of daycare centres over the eight-year period," StatsCan said.

"More than half of the children in care in Quebec, and more than one-quarter in Manitoba, were in a day-care centre in 2002-2003."

The report comes as the child-care issue in Canada continues to provoke political controversy.

In Tuesday's throne speech, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government reaffirmed the plan to institute a national child care allowance of $1,200 a year for each child under the age of six.

This change has been a cause for celebration and disgruntlement among Canadian parents.

Some mothers think the money is not nearly enough.

"My monthly child care is over a $1,000 per month, so $1,200 a year to me is ridiculous," Michele Lupa told CTV.

Other parents, like Ian Fillman, are happy to be given a choice.

"With having the money coming into the family as opposed to building more daycare centres, it gives more of an option," Fillman told CTV.

The NDP, Liberals and Bloc Quebecois have all blasted the Conservative's plans, which seem set to scrap the Liberal election pledge of $5 billion to build a national child care network.

The Harper government believes that tax incentives will encourage the private sector to create the 125,000 new child care spaces.

The NDP argues that tax credits have failed before.

"History has shown -- whether it is in Ontario under Mike Harris, or New Brunswick or Saskatchewan -- that it did not create any child care spaces," argued Olivia Chow, the NDP child poverty critic.

Wednesday's StatsCan findings are based on a research paper entitled 'Child care in Canada.'

The report profiles the child care experiences of children aged six months to five years and covers the eight-year period from 1994-1995 to 2002-2003 using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY).

With a report from CTV's Rosemary Thompson