Ottawa families struggle with daycare waitlists, costs despite federal funding

OTTAWA — Ottawa families are facing long waitlists and unpredictable costs for child care, despite a federal-provincial agreement that promised 86,000 new spaces and an average fee of $10 a day by the end of 2026.

Victoria Tsonos joined the city's waitlist a week after learning she was pregnant, following advice she said is common for new parents.

"Every new parent is warned that as soon as you get pregnant, you need to sign up on the city's daycare waitlist," Tsonos said. "Even though I didn't know the sex of my baby until (he) was born, I had to make a profile for him and sign him up."

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She said the uncertainty is stressful, especially as her child could age out of programs for which she signed up.

"I need to go back (to work) when my child is 12, 13 months. ... If he becomes a toddler by the time an infant spot becomes available, he will no longer be accepted," Tsonos explained.

The City of Ottawa waitlist advises parents that more families are looking for child care than there are available spaces, encouraging them to find a "backup plan."

Emily Knoppert moved to Ottawa from Seattle in May and accessed the city's portal in March to prepare. Her daughter was offered a spot at a half-day preschool in April, though the wait could have been longer for a full day.

"Most people are looking for a full-day program to better align with their full-time jobs, and the half-day programs are less popular and a little easier to get into," she said.

Knoppert said she has not heard from the full-day facilities she applied to seven months ago. Her daughter's preschool is subsidized by the Early Learning and Child Care Agreement system, which caps fees at $22 a day for children 0-5, $12 more than the price promised in 2021.

To address shortcomings, the federal government announced nearly $12 billion for the Ontario ELCC program on Sept. 29, adding to the $13.8 billion already provided.

Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu said in a press conference that funds will go toward maintaining the current $19-a-day average fee until next June 30.

The new budget will also be used to meet the goal of 86,000 new child-care spaces, for which the deadline has been moved from Dec. 31, 2026, to March 31, 2027.

Kim Hiscott, CEO of Andrew Fleck Children's Services, said the ELCC program has positively impacted families accessing the organization's 30 subsidized centres, but shortages in funding will keep waitlists long.

"Fees were $90-95 a day, now they're $22, so that's a big change," she said. "The challenge is the program in Ontario. The target is one space for 37 per cent of children."

When daycare costs go down, wait times go up, Hiscott explained. If the budget only plans to guarantee a spot for 37 per cent of children under six, the extra $12 billion is unlikely to shorten waitlists.

"As soon as child care became more affordable, more families realized they could afford to return to work," she said. "We jokingly say we find out somebody is expecting a baby before the grandparents because they put their baby on the list a week after they find out they're pregnant."

For Tsonos, squeezing her child into that 37 per cent took patience. After over a year of waiting, her child was offered a spot in a private daycare not part of the ELCC system, costing around $900 more monthly than a subsidized facility.

"We're gonna have to re-budget in order to accommodate that, but we are so lucky and privileged that we can accommodate," she said. "We can make that work, but there are so many families that cannot."

With files from Capital Current