TORONTO – Ontario parents, organized with the Parents for Child Care network, are calling on the Ontario and federal governments to keep their promise of delivering $10aDay child care. While we are relieved that the Canada-Ontario Early Learning and Child Care Agreement (CWELCC) has been extended for one more year, parents are disappointed with the governments’ failure to meet their commitment to reach $10aDay fees by March 2026.
In a letter to parents, Ontario Minister Calandra has announced that fees will instead stay capped at $22/day until at least December 2026. With rising costs of household expenses, parents were counting on child care fees to reduce to $10aDay by March 2026.
“The original promise was $10aDay child care by September 2025. It’s so frustrating that they keep pushing it back. Other provinces have been able to achieve $10aDay. Why is Ontario so far behind?” says Meaghan Kirby, a parent of three based in Ottawa. “Parents need to be able to budget and plan ahead, but now I’m even worried fees could rise, rather than come down, after the one year extension expires.”
“My husband and I want to have a second child, but without a long-term agreement cementing affordable child care, we aren’t able to plan for our family to grow,” says Lyndsay MacKay, a parent based in Toronto. “It’s incredibly disheartening to see the constant back tracking on $10aDay child care. We need Minister Hajdu and Minister Calandra to demonstrate real leadership and actually deliver on the promise that they made to make $10aDay child care a reality for all families in Ontario.”
Further, in its recent extension announcement, the government has not addressed other key issues included in the initial commitment, such as expanding child care spaces, increasing wages for child care educators, and keeping the ratio of non-profit daycare spaces at 70%. Parents for Child Care call on the government to detail a plan of how they will meet their promises.
“I have a 7 month old-baby and I’ve already started looking for child care in Toronto so I can return to work next fall,” says Sarah Mikhaiel with Parents for Child Care. “A few daycares are telling me that I am on a waitlist with more than a hundred other families ahead of me, while others have not even responded to my multiple requests to be placed on a waitlist, which makes me increasingly nervous that I may not get a space in time.”
Demand has increased faster than access to available spaces after the initial reduction in child care fees. According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, while there is progress, still more than half of children in Toronto for example lack access to daycare spaces. Further there is still no centralized waitlist in many regions to reassure parents or to track demand.
Parents for Child Care call on the federal and provincial governments to detail how they will expand daycare spaces to address the waitlist crisis, while maintaining a ratio of 70 percent non-profit day care spaces.
“The Ontario government is more interested in expanding child care spots through for-profit operators, but we know from all the research that non-profit operators provide significantly better quality care for children. For-profit operators can’t be relied upon to operate in underserved and vulnerable communities.That’s why we are calling on the Ontario government to expand non-profit and public child care spaces,” says Sarah Mikhaiel from Parents with Child Care.
Parents for Child Care demands the Ontario and federal governments finalize a long-term $10aDay deal as soon as possible, and fully deliver on their promise of affordability, expansion of non-profit and public child care spaces, increasing the number of qualified educators including a raise in their real wages, and providing transparent data sharing and reporting.
Parents for Child Care is an Ontario-wide network of families working to ensure that the $10aDay child care plan is strengthened and expanded in Ontario.
To arrange interviews contact Brynne Sinclair-Waters at (647) 226-7184.