Ontario and the federal government have reached an agreement to extend the national affordable child-care program in the province for an additional four years. However, there are no guarantees of further reductions in the fees paid by parents.
Ontario, along with Alberta, was among the two provinces that had not previously secured longer-term agreements beyond the initial five years of the program. The extension of funding until 2031 provides some stability for child-care operators and parents in Ontario.
Despite these developments, the program may not achieve its primary objective of lowering parent fees to an average of $10 a day. While approximately half of the provinces are offering child-care at this rate, Ontario’s fees currently average $19 per day, with a cap at $22. Under the new four-year agreement with the federal government, Ontario has committed to maintaining fees at this level until June 30, 2027.
The future beyond this period remains uncertain.
According to Federal Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu, the agreement offers a sense of security for Ontario parents and child-care operators. She highlighted the financial relief parents are experiencing, with an average saving of around $9,000 per child, even with the current fee averaging $19 per day.
This four-year agreement entails $12 billion from the federal government, with Ontario also set to receive a portion of an additional $5.4 billion earmarked for the national program. This new funding helps address Ontario’s financial challenges, at least in the immediate future, according to Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra.
While acknowledging the shortfall in the program, Minister Calandra commended Minister Hajdu for securing additional funding, providing stability for parents and operators until 2027. However, he emphasized that achieving further reductions in fees would require significantly more financial support.
Minister Hajdu pointed out the growing demand for child-care services in Ontario, with waitlists expanding in certain regions by several hundred percent since the inception of the national program. The province has also fallen short of its target of creating 86,000 affordable child-care spaces by this year, currently standing at just under 60,000.
Minister Calandra expressed optimism about reaching the target, noting that many new schools under construction will include child-care facilities, contributing to the availability of more spaces in the coming year. The province’s financial accountability officer projects a demand for approximately 220,000 new child-care spaces due to the increased demand resulting from lower fees.
