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

Children play at the Blessed Chiara Badano Child Care Centre in Stouffville, Ont., Friday, May 2, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

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. About 154,000 new spaces have been created since 2021, the federal government said, which is short of the goal of 250,000 by this March.

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 was meeting Friday with provincial and territorial ministers of education and early learning. A spokesperson for Hajdu said the federal government wants to get the national child-care program right.

“These are generational investments that build a strong economy, support parents and give every child a fair chance,” Jennifer Kozlej wrote in a statement.

“Each province and territory has the responsibility to develop child-care systems that work best to respond to the needs and priorities of their communities, including space creation.”

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.

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.”

Advocates also want to see improved compensation for child-care workers, as many operators say an inability to recruit and retain enough qualified staff is hurting their ability to keep spaces open, let alone staff new ones.

“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.”

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

By Allison Jones