Ontario Is Opening 53K Affordable Child Care Spaces Across The Province & Here's Where
The Ontario government released a list of thousands of new licensed child care spaces that will allow parents to save money.
The plan is to have 53,000 additional "new, affordable licensed child care spaces" available to parents in Ontario by December 2026, the government announced on Monday.
In total, Ontario hopes to have 86,000 spaces, including the 33,000 spaces that have been around since 2019.
"These spaces will include a mix of not-for-profit and for-profit centres to provide families with choice and flexibility, with a focus in communities with children who need them most," the government stated.
The spaces are part of the government's larger plan, which they call the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system. The affordable and licensed child care spaces will be "allocated to communities across Ontario using a model that incorporates demographics, socio-economic indicators, and existing licensed child care capacity," the press release states.
In March 2022, Ontario made a child care deal with the federal government and "secured a six-year, $13.2 billion agreement" that aims to "lower fees for families and deliver an average of $10 a day child care by September 2025."
"Today, as part of that agreement, Ontario is announcing a targeted plan to create new licensed child care spaces, with a focus on increasing access to families across Ontario," Monday's announcement stated.
To make child care more affordable, the province's Minister of Education, Stephen Lecce, said they are "investing in new spaces that will benefit parents for years to come. With the cost of living rising across the country, the Ontario government is increasing access to child care spaces and delivering needed financial relief for families."
Additionally, he said that, on average, parents would've saved between $6,000 and $10,000 per child by the end of 2022.
Moreover, parents with children in centres under the CWELCC system are now seeing fee reductions of up to 25% retroactive to April 2022. "By the end of this year, families with children under the age of six in participating licensed child care programs will see a further fee reduction of up to 50 per cent relative to 2020 levels," the press release adds.
The municipalities and newly allocated child spaces will be as follows:
- Algoma District Services Administration Board—204
- Brantford—740
- Cornwall—465
- Greater Sudbury—219
- Hamilton—1,517
- Kawartha Lakes—443
- Kingston—265
- London—2,080
- Ottawa—1,545
- Peterborough—261
- St. Thomas—702
- Stratford—569
- Toronto—5,764
- Windsor—1,540
- Cochrane DSSAB—164
- Bruce—645
- Dufferin—478
- Grey—504
- Hastings—827
- Huron—391
- Lambton—521
- Lanark—169
- Lennox & Addington—432
- Norfolk—441
- Northumberland—310
- Oxford—437
- Renfrew—427
- Simcoe—3,082
- Wellington—1,721
- Muskoka—307
- Kenora District Services Administration Board—246
- Manitoulin-Sudbury District Services Administration Board—183
- Chatham-Kent—315
- Nipissing District Services Administration Board—109
- Parry Sound District Services Administration Board—131
- Rainy River District Services Administration Board—147
- Durham—2,029
- Halton—880
- Niagara—1,951
- Peel—7,621
- Waterloo—1,871
- York—1,049
- Sault Ste. Marie District Services Administration Board—118
- Thunder Bay District Services Administration Board—419
- Timiskaming District Services Administration Board—125
- United Counties of Leeds & Grenville—397
- United Counties of Prescott & Russell—207.
