A new report from Statistics Canada says child care was more affordable across the country in 2023, but parents are having a harder time finding it.
The report released on Dec. 5 says expenses for children attending full-time centre-based child care decreased from an average of $663 per month in 2022 to $508 in 2023.
It says the decrease occurred as many provinces and territories began implementing lower child-care fees.
Meanwhile, the proportion of parents who reported having difficulty finding available child care increased from 53 percent in 2019 to 62 percent in 2023.
Twenty-six percent of parents with children aged five and under who were not using child care reported that their child was on a wait list—up from 19 percent in 2022.
The federal government signed separate agreements with provinces and territories to establish $10-a-day child care by 2026, although the pace of the rollout has varied in different parts of the country.
