Publicly led and funded expansion

Publicly led and funded expansion is needed to close the gap between service supply and parental demand that has created service shortages and inequitable access. Sufficient capital funding to support the costs of expanded public and non-profit early learning and child care (ELCC) facilities is required.

ELCC supply is currently insufficient and inequitable

There has long been an urgent need to increase the supply of regulated child care in Canada. The new Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) federal funding has reduced parent fees, driving up demand for child care, and exacerbating the need for expansion. Research shows that 48% of young children below kindergarten age live in “child care deserts” defined as living in a postal code with more than three young children for every licensed child care space. In addition to geography, the distribution of child care is inequitable across age groups, race, family income, and tenure in Canada.

Responsibility for expansion must be public

Child care deserts exist primarily because Canadian child care has not benefited from the same public responsibility and planning that ensures other essential services such as schools, roads, and sewers are available in every community. The development of new ELCC programs has largely been a private responsibility in Canada, with non-profit groups or for-profit entrepreneurs stepping up where they have the capacity and the interest. To ensure access through adequate supply, child care expansion must become a public responsibility rather than a private one.

Capital funding

The lack of capital funding in most of Canada has been a major barrier to developing needed not-for-profit child care where it is needed. Equitable access requires that public capital funding is available to develop services based on public planning.