A number of members of the Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario (AECEO) and the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care (OCBCC) have expressed concern about a recent letter from the Minister of Education Paul Calandra to parents which operators have been asked to distribute. The letter, sent on April 22 2025, says that the parent fee reductions financed through the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) program could be reversed after March 31, 2026 (and continue to rise thereafter) and ascribes this to inadequate federal funding.

Myth: The idea of $10/day child care is great, but it seems like there are still so many families that can’t access a child care space. This is never going to work.

Truth: Families’ frustration in not being able to access a child care space is understandable. But parents should not be deterred because a universal child care system that ensures every family that wants a space has access to one is achievable. 

Consider Sweden’s and Iceland’s ‘Gold Standard’ Child Care Systems

There are some great examples from Europe, including from countries like Sweden and Iceland, which both offer what is considered a ‘gold standard’ child care system that is accessible and affordable. 

Consider that in Sweden, 85.4 percent of children from the age of 1-5 years were enrolled in early childhood education as of 2019. This high participation rate is a consequence of the Swedish government making child care a legal entitlement. This means that the government has an obligation to provide child care as a right to children. As part of this obligation, the Swedish government has mandated that children from the age of one year are entitled to publicly subsidized child care, and children from the age of three years are entitled to free child care for at least 15 hours per week. 

Families also do not need to struggle to find a child care space in Iceland. 95 percent of children from the age of 2-3 years were enrolled in early childhood education as of 2019. Iceland has been able to achieve this high level of accessibility by legally requiring that all children under school age have a right to a place in a municipal early childhood education setting, either in a licensed center or in family daycare. It’s important to note that Iceland did not sacrifice quality to achieve these high child care participation rates. In fact, UNICEF ranked Iceland as number one in the world for child care quality. 

Lessons from Europe on Achieving Universal Child Care Access

Canada can learn important lessons from Sweden, Iceland, and other European countries that have created accessible, affordable, and high-quality child care systems. This includes:

• Long-term investment: Achieving universal access requires decades of dedicated funding. Building a national child care system is a marathon, not a sprint!
• Make child care a legal entitlement: Legally enshrining children’s right to access early childhood education helps support sustained government commitment to supporting child care expansion.
• Local accountability: Municipal governments need to be empowered to plan for and build child care spaces where they are needed with sufficient levels of funding.
• Limit for-profit expansion: We already know that for-profit operators are less likely to build child care spaces where they are needed most. Government needs to support the expansion of public and not-for-profit operators in high-need communities.

Like any new system, $10/day child care is experiencing growing pains. There are real solutions to ensuring we build CWELCC as a truly universal system all families can access.

The Ontario early learning and child care community is celebrating as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces extensions to the $10aDay agreements with 11 provinces including Ontario. Our community raised our voices about how important the $10aDay program is for families and communities and how important it is that the sector has stability and security in funding. We know the transformative potential the $10aDay system holds for early childhood educators and staff, and we know it is a program that will benefit our economy and society.

136 Ontario organizations have signed an Open Letter to Premier Doug Ford asking him to accept a federal offer to extend federal $10aDay child care funding to 2031 - including 100 ELCC programs, 10 ELCC policy, research and advocacy associations, 21 nonprofit and charitable sector associations, and five Ontario labour unions. 

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ontario child care organizations, educators and families are speaking out against a group of for-profit child care owners who are staging rolling closures in the province.

The Ontario government has released new documents providing details of the cost-based funding approach to be implemented in CWELCC programs in January 2025.