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.
Since the prorogation of Parliament, the federal Minister for Families, Children and Social Development, Jenna Sudds, has approached at least one province with an early offer to “extend” its child-care agreement beyond its 2026 expiry date. The minister may be floating similar offers to other provinces and territories. If any take the bait, it will be harder for any newly elected federal government, including a Liberal one, to make changes to the failing program. Changes that could help more families with their child-care expenses and accelerate the creation of new spaces, while also reducing costs for taxpayers….