When Angela Zhu found out she was pregnant, she realized that securing a daycare spot in Toronto would be tough, so she and her husband signed up for 40 different waitlists, thinking that would surely cover their bases.
It didn’t.
“My friend joked to me, ‘As soon as you get the positive pregnancy test, don’t even wait to have an appointment with your doctor. As soon as you have that, start emailing’ … and I did that,” she said.
“We have a genuinely scary-looking spreadsheet.”
However, a year after her son was born, they had only received one offer – for a daycare 30 minutes away, with a start date almost a month later than when she was supposed to return to work.
They accepted it and Zhu felt lucky to secure that spot since it’s part of the national $10-a-day program which lowers parents’ fees. Just this month, after enduring one and a half years of extra commuting for daycare and over three years on all those waitlists, they finally got a spot in their neighborhood.
While about half the provinces are providing average fees of $10 a day, Ontario hasn’t reached that goal yet; fees are capped at $22 per day – still much lower than the more than $70 charged by some facilities before Ontario joined the program four years ago.
A spokesperson for Education Minister Paul Calandra stated Ontario is dedicated to increasing access to affordable childcare. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
Yet some parents and at least one well-known childcare advocate are urging Ontario not just to focus on lowering fees further to $10 but instead prioritize expanding availability.
The initial spike in demand triggered by lower fees starting in 2022 caused many child-care waitlists to soar, and four years later, access issues have become critical in certain areas.
The province had pledged to create 86,000 affordable spaces by this year under its agreement with the federal government but has fallen short at just under 60,000. The province’s financial accountability officer estimates that due to increased demand from lower fees there could be a need for closer to 220,000 new spaces.
The demand has become so overwhelming at one Toronto daycare that it has had to close its waitlist multiple times. The operators of Blossoming Minds mention that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic their waitlist usually contained between 300 and 400 children; since implementing the $10-a-day program it has ballooned past 700.
“The centre turns over maybe 50 or 60 children [a year],” said director Maggie Moser.
“You have to figure if we have 700 names on our list, in two years 600 of those people will not get a spot.”
A spokesperson for Education Minister Paul Calandra remarked Ontario is committed to expanding access to affordable child care.
“As lower fees have increased demand, we continue working with local service system managers and operators along with the federal government to ensure program sustainability,” Emma Testani wrote in an official statement.
In the Region of Waterloo – one among several communities across the province with centralized waiting lists – around 15,000 kids are waiting for child-care spots; that’s an increase of 200 percent since 2021.
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The province was supposed to have created 86,000 affordable spaces by this year under the deal with the federal government but has so far fallen short at just shy of 60,000. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
In Thunder Bay alone, children’s names on waitlists more than doubled since 2021; currently there are about 1,235 kids waiting for infant spaces – about one-third needing care soonest.</P
Meanwhile Ottawa has experienced a whopping increase of over three hundred percent in families seeking child care since 2019; currently around eight thousand five hundred children sit on central waiting lists. The city claims it’s meeting roughly three quarters of this demand but needs about seven thousand four hundred new spots available fully meet it.
Between this year and last year , Ontario allocated approximately two thousand nine hundred spaces designated under its provincial expansion plan. “The city continues allocating remaining spaces based on evidence while prioritizing equity , inclusion , actively advocating toward provinces regarding additional [$10-a-day program]-funded openings supporting families within Ottawa ,” Jason Sabourin , director overseeing children services stated officially. Hana Park , mom raising her two-year-old son , perceived situation surrounding child-care Ottawa being severe enough prompting family relocate Gatineau , Quebec. Unable find available slots through program nearby home within Ottawa. Park works federally employed government agency expressed excitement upon rollout regarding newly established affordability significantly influencing decision having baby.“So going into it I felt extremely hopeful ,” she commented.
“Going through process left feeling battered ; hard explain feelings drained , like second job daily search daycare became pursuit ultimately leading relocation requiring moving provinces afford raising child without quitting job.”
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