It is expected that Ottawa will lose its deadline of 2026 to implement child care services of $ 10 a day throughout the country, said Canadian Center for Policies Alternatives in a new report published on Wednesday.
The analysis concluded that only six provinces and territories are fulfilling that tariff objective now.
David Macdonald, an economist from the center, said that although the rates have fallen significantly everywhere, it is unlikely that the federal government fulfills its self -imposed deadline.
“It is almost certain that even after the deadline of 2026, many parents in five provinces will pay more than $ 10 per day for child care,” Macdonald said.
“That said, the falls of the rate for parents have so far been amazing in Ontario, Alberta and Nunavut, since these jurisdictions had let the rates get too high before the Federal Program.”
The child care program of $ 10 a day, announced in 2021, was a signature policy of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The report says that only six provinces and territories, Nunavut, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, Prince Eduardo and Terranova and Labrador’s island, have fulfilled or improved the Government’s 2026 target for $ 10 a day of child care.
Five provinces, Ontario, Nueva Scotia, Alberta, BC and New Brunswick, still have no plans to reduce rates to $ 10 per day, according to the report.
The cities of these provinces have the highest costs for child care, says the report, for example, parents in Richmond, BC, are paying medium rates of $ 39 per day for babies, approximately four times the target rate.
The objective of the federal government was that the rates “averaged” $ 10 per day, but Macdonald described it as a “prison free card” that will leave parents paying more than that amount after the deadline passes.
“I think this will become a political problem in April 2026 when people say: ‘Wait a second, this is a child care program of $ 10 a day, but I am paying $ 12, $ 17, $ 20 per day,” he said.
GTA sees a significant fall in rates
Jurisdictions such as Ontario who already had high rates are seeing savings of around $ 1,300 per month in Toronto and $ 1,000 per month in the surrounding area, according to the report.
In Toronto and Ottawa, the average rate for babies is $ 22 per day, according to the report. That is less than just under $ 86 per day five years ago, said Morna Ballantyne, executive director of Child Care Now, a defense group that participated in the report.
“In the GTA, the rates have really decreased dramatically, more than anywhere else because the rates were very high before the introduction of the federal program,” Ballantyne said in an interview with CBC Radio’s Metro tomorrow On Wednesday.
Macdonald said that regulations have forced prices.
“In all areas, we saw the provinces that had the least amount of rates restrictions and let the rates really get out of control, you see great savings when you enter and regulate those rates,” he said.
Macdonald said it is unlikely that Ontario and Alberta meet the objective of 2026, but pointed out “great progress” in those provinces and others.
The Ontario child care centers that do not participate in the National Program of $ 10 a day will soon lose provincial funds to offer rates subsidies to low -income families, and their staff could see a salary cut of $ 2 per hour.
Quebec rates have increased slightly since 2019. Macdonald said it is largely due to inflation, with the province’s day rate by approximately $ 0.70 below the $ 10 target.
Macdonald said that as the rates fall, another problem will continue to grow: the lack of child care spaces.
“At this point, there is not enough. The fact that the rates are much lower impulses much more demand,” he said.
“Now the real question will be, can we quickly build those spaces so that there are enough spaces for people to really access these more affordable prices?”
A great challenge to create these spaces is to attract and retain people to work on them, partly due to low salaries, said Ballantyne.
“If we are trying to grow a system, especially [a] Child care system where it is a very work industry … needs many people trained and willing to work in the sector, “he said.
“And unfortunately, there are many early childhood educators who are completely qualified but cannot work on child care because salaries are very poor and very few benefits.”
Martha Friendly, who works with the child care resources and research unit, said that to avoid “child care deserts”, more public and non -profit child care spaces must be created throughout the country.
“The expansion of the child care workforce is also key, emphasizing the hiring of more workers and the retention of existing ones,” said Friendly.
“The lessons of what works so far has been clear. We mainly need public and non -profit services, rates established for parents and fair wages and good working conditions for workers.”
