Ontario to be short child-care spaces due to $10-a-day demand: FAO

Increased demand for child-care spaces in Ontario due to the national $10-a-day program will leave the province short more than 220,000 spots under current expansion plans, the financial accountability officer said in a report.

Ontario recently announced that 92 per cent of licensed child-care operators in Ontario have opted in to the program and the province is now set to work on expansion plans, as well as a strategy to recruit and retain staff in licensed child-care settings. Advocates say expansion cannot happen if a child-care staffing shortage is not addressed, and have been calling for a wage grid, among other measures.

The agreement with the federal government saw Ontario commit to 86,000 new child-care spaces by the end of 2026, and the government says 33,000 have already been created.

But even if that target is met, Ontario’s Financial Accountability Office (FAO) said in a report this week that will likely not be enough for everyone needing care.

“The FAO estimates that by 2026, Ontario families of approximately 602,257 children under age six will wish to have access to $10-a-day child care,” the report said.

“With only 375,111 $10-a-day licensed child care spaces planned, the families of 227,146 children under age six…would be left wanting but unable to access $10-a-day child care.”

The FAO said its estimate is based on pre-pandemic Statistics Canada data on how many families were not accessing child care because it was too expensive or they couldn’t find a space, as well as looking at how many kids are still cared for at home in Quebec, where fees are subsidized.

A spokesperson for Education Minister Stephen Lecce said Ontario will implement a growth plan to ensure new spaces go to high-need areas.

“We also know that more needs to be done,” Grace Lee wrote in a statement.

“That’s why our deal with the federal government was contingent on $1 billion to build additional spaces across all provinces. However, we still await further details from the federal government as to how those funds can be used and when exactly they will be provided to Ontario.”

The federal-Ontario agreement says that the province will provide startup grants starting next month to support space creation in certain regions. There is $53 million earmarked in the first year for operating funding for a growth in spaces as well as $106 million in startup grants; and there is $218 million in operating funding and $107 million in startup grants for the following year.

The agreement says the federal funding will be used to “predominantly” support not-for-profit space creation and commits Ontario to maintaining at least 70 per cent of the province’s child-care spaces in the non-profit sector.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2022.