Advocates call for federal, provincial governments to strengthen child-care system

Child-care advocates called Friday on the federal and provincial governments to commit to strengthening the $10-a-day system, as the ministers responsible met in Ottawa.

Most provinces and territories now have average fees of $10 a day, but not all of them do and space creation targets are not on track to be met while many wait-lists are increasing.

Child Care Now and other advocates for an affordable, accessible and primarily non-profit system say now is not the time to shy away from those goals; rather, as the country seeks to shore up its economy in the face of global trade disruptions, child care is critical.

“In just five years, Canada’s $10-a-day child-care program has yielded far-reaching economic benefits,” Morna Ballantyne, executive director of Child Care Now, said at a press conference in Ottawa.

“We all know that Canada’s economy depends on people, especially more mothers, earning income and paying taxes.”

Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu met with provincial and territorial ministers of education and early learning and said all jurisdictions are committed to affordable child care.

“That’s a big commitment because, of course, many provinces talked about some of the sustainability challenges that they’re having,” she said in an interview.

“Overall, what provinces and territories said is that this is a very valuable approach. It is the social infrastructure that allows for all of the ambition in the country to build Canada strong.”

One of the challenges highlighted Friday at the meeting is space creation, Hajdu said. About 154,000 new spaces have been created since 2021, officials said, which is short of the goal of 250,000 by this March. But the main hurdle is not physical infrastructure, it is recruiting and retaining enough workers to open those spaces, she said.

Some provinces have put in place incentives such as wage grids, which Hajdu said are firmly provincial decisions.

Advocates also want to see improved compensation for child-care workers, as parents grapple with growing wait-lists.

“I hear from parents all the time about the stress of long wait-lists and not being able to find daycare spots,” said Janet Amito, mother to a toddler in daycare and a member of Parents for Child Care, part of the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care.

“We can only tackle the wait-list problem if the provincial government and federal governments both step up to fund a plan that supports educators with fair wages and create enough new spaces for all families who need it.”

Some provinces have been urging the federal government to spend more money on its signature program.

Ontario, for example, has said that it needs an additional $2 billion per year from the federal government in order to reduce parent fees to $10 a day. The province recently secured an extra $695 million from Ottawa for this year, which Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra has said will be enough to keep fees at the current average of $19 a day but not to reduce them further.

The province has also been urging the federal government to lift a cap under the agreement on the percentage of for-profit spaces, which officials say is hampering the growth of the $10-a-day program.

The topic came up in Friday’s meeting, Hajdu said, and highlighted the importance of bilateral talks with each province and territory as they all have unique systems — some almost exclusively public and others with more for-profit centres.

“While there are already flexibilities in the agreements on things like the percentage of privatization, we’re interested in exploring with each province and territory how we can better get to their targets,” she said.

“Ultimately, I think what people want is quality child care and the guardrails around the quality that is going to assure families that no matter where their child is at for child care, that they’re in a quality program that’s fully licensed and safe.”

Ballantyne said advocates had been hoping to see more federal money committed to the program in its last budget, but she wants to see provinces increase their own contributions too.

“We really do think that that’s what’s behind many of the suggestions that the program needs to be changed,” she said. “They’re looking for ways to try to reduce public investment rather than increase it.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 30, 2026.

Allison Jones, The Canadian Press