Ontario Auditor General report notes shortfall in public spending to meet child care targets

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The Office of the Auditor General of Ontario released its Special Report into the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Program. The audit was carried out to “assess whether the Ministry of Education has efficient and effective systems and procedures in place to meet the objectives of the Canada-Ontario Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement”.

By December 2024 over 36,000 new spaces had been created compared to March 2019, which equals approximately 75% of Ontario’s promised 48,127 spaces by December 2024.

The report uncovered some important findings about how the province is tracking against its commitments under its child care funding agreement with the Government of Canada.

Access and Inclusion

The audit found that enrolment has declined for families receiving the fee subsidy, which suggests that Ontario is not meeting its objective to make child care more inclusive of vulnerable children. 

Another finding was that in 2023 43% of all centres enrolled in the CWELCC program reported operating at below 80% of their licensed capacity in 2023 due primarily to staff shortages.

The Report included four sets of recommendations to address the issue of access and inclusion, that focus on 

  • improving tracking of spaces, utilization and waitlists;
  • improving guidance to Service System Managers (SSMs) to implement strategies to address lower enrolment among vulnerable groups,  
  • Identifying and incorporating inequities into future space-allocation strategies; and 
  • Establishing performance measures and better monitor and report data against the Access and Inclusion Framework 

Affordability

Parent fees in Ontario have decreased to approximately $22/day, and are expected to decrease to $12/day in March 2026. Given the lower number of children accessing the parent fee subsidy, it is unlikely the province will reach the target of an average of $10/day by March 2026.

Further, the Report noted that the Ontario government has estimated that federal funding to cover the cost of the fee reductions will be short $1.95 billion in 2026/27, and that parent fees would have to be increased to an average of $32 per day without more public funding. 

Quality

Ontario set a target in their CWELCC Agreement to increase the percentage of qualified staff for children aged 0 to 5 years to 60% by March 2026. 

The Report estimates that 10,000 RECEs are needed based on current workforce trends. This is 1,500 more than the Ministry estimated in 2022.

The Audit recommends that the Ministry develop a RECE supply and demand model that incorporates the gap between the current utilization rate and the licensed capacity of the child care when estimating staff needs. 

Lastly, the Report recommends reviewing and evaluating the effectiveness of existing recruitment and retention initiatives under the workforce strategy, such as the wage enhancement grant, the qualifications upgrade program (QUP) and dual credit program. 

Read the full report

Read the Ontario Coalition for Better Child’s Care’s (OCBCC) response.Sign the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care’s petition to renew the Canada-Ontario agreement