Ontario secures four-year funding boost for affordable child-care, fees stay near $19

Ontario and the Canadian federal government have reached a four-year extension of the national affordable child-care program, securing funding through at least 2031 and guaranteeing payments until June 30 2027. The deal brings $12 billion from the federal side and adds Ontario’s portion of a further $5.4 billion announced earlier this year. While the arrangement stabilises finances for child-care operators and parents, average daily fees will stay at roughly $19, capped at $22, falling short of the program’s $10-a-day goal.

Provincial officials note that the money plugs a fiscal shortfall and should keep fees steady, but achieving lower rates would require substantially more funding. Wait-lists have swelled in many areas, and the province has delivered just under 60,000 of the 86,000 affordable spaces it pledged, with expectations that new school-linked centres will add capacity soon.