The Ontario government is making child care more affordable and accessible for families in Kawartha Lakes communities by creating 443 new affordable licensed child care spaces by 2026. These new space allocations will signify a 40 per cent growth in child care spaces available to families within Kawartha Lakes.
The new spaces will be part of the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system. They are part of Ontario’s commitment to creating 86,000 new spaces across the province by December 2026 –with 33,000 already created since 2019.
“Our government is continuing to support families with the addition of new child care spaces in our community” said Laurie Scott, MPP for Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock. “Today’s announcement, along with the reduction of child care fees is another positive step for families.”
In March 2022, Ontario secured a six-year, $13.2 billion agreement with the federal government which will lower fees for families and deliver an average of $10 a day child care by September 2025. In December 2022, as part of that agreement, Ontario announced a targeted plan to create new licensed child care spaces, with a focus on increasing access to Ontario families.
To ensure child care spaces are created in locations and for populations most in need — including for children with special needs, Indigenous and Franco-Ontarian communities — Ontario launched a $213 million start-up grant program for new and existing operators. These one-time grants, prioritizing regions with historically low rates of space availability, will help child care operators offset the initial costs of expanding or creating spaces, such as purchasing equipment or renovating facilities.
To date, 92 per cent of Ontario’s licensed child care sites have enrolled in the CWELCC system. Families across the province with children under the age of six in these centres are already seeing fee reductions of up to 50 per cent relative to 2020 levels.
Ontario remains committed to the success of the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care system and will continue to work with municipalities and the sector to ensure affordable child care is available in communities where it is needed most.
QUICK FACTS
- To ensure improved access, new child care space allocations will focus on the creation of affordable spaces in communities with children who need them most – rural communities, growth communities, low-income children, vulnerable children, children from diverse communities, children with special needs, Francophone and Indigenous children.
- The Ontario government is streamlining the application process for new child care operators when they apply for a licence. They will learn about their eligibility for child care funding before investing heavily in becoming licensed. The applicants will also have to submit key municipal approvals, including zoning and permitted use, together with their application. This will significantly reduce the time it takes the applicant to acquire a licence.
- Currently, there are more than 5,500 child care centres, 139 licensed home child care agencies, and around 473,000 licensed spaces in Ontario.
- Since 2018, the Ontario government has invested over $1.5 billion in capital projects within the education sector, including 4,908 new, licensed child care spaces within schools. In 2021, the Ontario government invested more than $95 million to create 3,094 more school-based licensed child care spaces for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.
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