Child-care deal extended, but Ottawa parents still waiting on $10-a-day and more spaces

Subsidized daycare for children received a one-year extension but as CTV’s Katelyn Wilson reports, questions remain about spaces and staffing.

Ontario parents learned in November that the province secured a one-year extension with the federal government to carry the national $10-a-day child-care program, and on Thursday the extension was made official.

While the funding brings relief, big questions remain about spaces, staffing and when Ontario will actually reach its long-promised $10-a-day goal.

For Ottawa mom Kristina Medow, that uncertainty hits close to home. Medow says she feels fortunate to have gotten an affordable spot for her daughter through the program.

Before that call came, she says she was paying around a $1,000 per month for part-time care elsewhere. Under the Canada-wide program, her preschool spot now costs $22 a day, savings she says changed her family’s future.

“It actually gave us an opportunity to family plan,” Medow said. “It allowed my husband to start his own business, we call it our third baby.”

On Thursday, the federal and provincial governments announced a one-year extension of the Canada-wide early learning and child-care agreement, which will take the program to the end of March 2027.

“This saving represents up to $10,400 per year per family,” said Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu.

In total, the federal government is providing $3.9 billion in funding, including $695 million next year to hold fees at an average of $19 a day through 2026.

But the extension does not answer one of the biggest questions: When will Ontario finally reach $10-a-day childcare, a target originally set for 2026?

“It is still our intention to make it to $10 as soon as the funding and the staffing and the space allows us to do so,” said Ontario’s education minister Paul Calandra.

It’s unclear when that may be and for parents, finding a spot remains one of the biggest challenges.

As of June, Ontario has created 41,000 of the 86,000 new spaces promised by the end of 2026.

At Andrew Fleck Children’s Services, one of Ottawa’s largest child-care operators, expansion can’t keep pace with demand.

“We have lots of families on our waiting list,” CEO Kim Hiscott said. “We can’t expand as rapidly as we’d like. Knowing there’s an agreement now gives me more confidence that going forward, we might be able to get this right.”

Staffing is also a growing concern. Ontario’s Auditor General has warned that the province will need about 10,000 more early childhood educators by 2026 to meet demand.

“It’s no secret we’ve had challenges with respect to recruitment. I think some of the work that we’ve done in collaboration with the federal government with respect to wages has made a difference and will continue to make a difference,” Calandra said.

“You will start to see more investments made on the staffing side so that we get more ECE’s in the system, we have to do that in order to meet our obligations.”

For families like Medow’s, the extension brings relief.

“Having access to high quality affordable childcare is the biggest piece of mind that you can ever have as a parent, so we are very happy about the announcement today,” she said.

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