Prepared by Parents for Child Care on September 30, 2026:
Parents have been pushing our governments to sign a new funding agreement for child care. Our pressure worked! On September 29, 2026, the federal and provincial governments announced a new funding agreement has been reached that provides $12 billion in federal funding for child care in Ontario over 4 years (from March 31, 2027, to March 31, 2031). Unfortunately, the announcement was missing some key pieces that are necessary to deliver $10/day child care and end the waitlist crisis.
- Still no plan to reach $10/day fees. The $22/day fee cap is only in place until June 2027. At that point, fees could still go up. This does not deliver the stability that families need or the $10/day child care families were promised.
- Still no plan to address the waitlist crisis. No new commitments for creating more spaces. The timeline for reaching the current target of 86,000 new spaces has been extended from December 2026 to March 2027. No new commitments to raising wages for child care workers, which is necessary for expansion and at the heart of addressing waitlists.
- Ontario is failing families. Six other provinces have committed to $10/day fees or less.* Ontario has a shortage of 10,000 ECEs** and still needs to create over 227,000 new spaces to meet demand.*** Ontario refuses to step up with their own provincial funding for child care to make the system work.
Families will continue pushing until our governments deliver access to $10/day child care for all!
To learn more about this funding announcement and next steps in our advocacy, join our online parent meeting on October 14 from 8pm to 9:15pm.
For regular updates, follow us on Instagram @parents4cc.
* The $10-a-day divide: Child care fees in Canada in 2026, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, August 2026
**Estimate from Auditor General of Ontario, October 2025
***Estimate from Financial Accountability Office, November 2022