Ontario extends child-care deal extended but not $10 a day
Ontario has secured a four-year extension for its national child-care program, ensuring funding continuity through 2031. Despite the extension, the province will maintain its current average fee of $19 per day rather than moving toward the national $10-a-day goal.
Why it matters
The deal provides financial certainty for families and operators but underscores the difficulty of achieving uniform national pricing targets.
Ontario and the federal government have agreed to extend the national affordable child-care program in the province for another four years, but it comes with no promises of further lowering the fees parents pay. The province is one of only two, including Alberta, that had not reached longer-term deals beyond the program’s initial five years, and securing funding until at least 2031 will give operators and parents some certainty. But what it may not do is see the program live up to its signature goal – lowering parent fees to an average of $10 a day. While about half of the provinces are offering average fees at that level, Ontario’s are an average of $19 a day, capped at $22. In its new four-year agreement with the federal government, Ontario has committed to maintain fees at that level until June 30, 2027.
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