Pre-Election Promises to Extend $10-a-Day Child-Care Scheme Could Be Costly

A young boy plays at a daycare centre in Langley, B.C., in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck

Commentary

Launched as part of budget 2021 and marketed to families as $10-a-day child care, the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care program (CWELCC) has largely been a failure. To date, fewer than half of Canadian families with young children can access it. A longstanding shortage of qualified staff and the bureaucratic complexity of phasing out private sector child-care operators—both commercial and not-for-profit—have thwarted the program’s expansion.