Globe and Mail
The YMCA is adding nearly 2,000 daycare spaces across the Greater Toronto Area in response to feverish demand from parents who are desperate for affordable, quality child care. The demand is for infant and toddler spaces, as four- and five-year-olds are moving to full-day kindergarten, leaving smaller daycares to struggle without them. Larger agencies such as the YMCA have the capital necessary to respond to that need. By law, toddlers and infants require higher staffing ratios, as low as three-to-one, compared to kindergarten-aged children who require an eight-to-one staffing ratio. There is also some expensive infrastructure associated with caring for younger children. Families in Ontario pay a median price of $12,516 a year for an infant daycare spot. Those rates are likely to continue climbing thanks to full-day kindergarten.