N.S. still below targets set in federal agreement for $10-a-day daycare: report

A new report says Nova Scotia needs lower daycare fees and more spaces.

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia is falling short of a target to create more affordable childcare spaces, according to a new report released as the province presses the federal government for additional funding.

The report, released Tuesday from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, says many parents across the province are paying much more for childcare services than a provincial goal set in 2021 of $10 per day. The report also says Nova Scotia hasn’t achieved its goal of creating 9,500 new childcare spaces.

Early Childhood Development Minister Brendan Maguire told reporters last month that the province needed “a lot more money” to meet their goals, and that he was in talks with federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu on the issue.

Maguire didn’t specify how much money the province was looking for, only that it would be “millions, not thousands” of dollars.

The targets were announced four years ago, when the province signed a bilateral agreement with the federal government, pledging to expand public childcare spaces and bring down the cost for parents.

Hajdu’s office was not immediately available for comment.

A co-author of the new report, Christine Saulnier, says the claim that the province needs more funding is confusing.

“The target was $10 a day. The funding is on the table to reach that. I did hear the minister say they don’t have enough funding, but I don’t know why, because they certainly haven’t surpassed the (available) spaces.”

Saulnier, the Nova Scotia director of the CCPA, says the report shows that while progress has been made in some areas, there are still improvements needed in the system.

Nova Scotians still pay much more than the promised $10 per day, the report shows. In Halifax, parents pay on average $22.25 per day for preschool aged children. Elsewhere in the province, costs can run as high as $35.29 per day, or more than $9,000 per year.

The CCPA report shows that to date, 7,200 net new spaces have been announced, and are in various stages of development.

The province has pledged that 59 per cent of children six and under will have access to licensed childcare by the end of March, 2026. As of now, the report shows that 70 per cent of communities in Nova Scotia are not hitting that target.

Saulnier says the 59 per cent quota seems low, “especially when you look at things like labour market participation. Families need to work, both parents are working … 59 per cent is not where we would need to be.”

Many childcare centres in the province have wait-lists of parents waiting for spots. One centre reached by The Canadian Press stated in their voice-mail message that their wait-list had 600 names.

There have been improvements over the last several years, as laid out in the report. Early childhood educators received a defined benefits and pension plan. However, the report also notes that low overall wages are contributing to problems in recruiting and retaining those ECEs.

The report recommends that Nova Scotia adopt a new funding model, as well as create a central agency to take the burden of managing wait lists away from individual centres. Saulnier says the current system is a patchwork and overly burdens childcare providers.

The Department of Early Childhood Development did not respond to questions about funding requirements posed via email.

In March, Nova Scotia’s bilateral agreement with Ottawa was extended until 2031.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 9, 2025.

By Emily Baron Cadloff