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Introduction

The 2021 Federal Budget marked a transformative milestone in Canadian social policy, committing almost $30 billion over five years to establish a Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system. This investment enabled the federal government to sign initial five-year bilateral agreements with all 13 provinces and territories¹, creating a national framework focused on reducing fees, creating over 250,000 new spaces, and strengthening the early childhood workforce.

As of December 2025, all provinces² and territories have signed new CWELCC agreements: eleven provinces and territories have signed five-year agreements, from April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2031, while Ontario and Alberta have signed one-year extensions to March 31, 2027.³

About this report

This report is part of a larger project funded by Employment and Social Development Canada’s Early Learning and Child Care Innovation Program: Growth by Design: Expanding Early Learning and Child Care in Canada (2023 – 2026). The project aims to:

• Identify the barriers and facilitators that impact the capacity of public and not-for-profit providers to expand licensed early learning and child care (ELCC);
• Engage the not-for-profit ELCC community, ELCC allies, and public stakeholders in innovative thinking and capacity building to expand access to affordable, accessible, and high quality ELCC;⁴
• Identify, describe, and assess innovative practices and public policies that have supported the expansion of not-for-profit and public ELCC; and
• Increase awareness and enable knowledge transfer about effective mechanisms and innovative practices to support the expansion of quality, affordable, accessible not-for-profit and public ELCC.

The report builds on a 2024 report⁵ that provided a snapshot of space creation leading up to the rollout of the CWELCC program. 

The purpose of this Growth Report is to track the creation of licensed spaces across Canada, highlighting trends in:

• Operator type (auspice) 
• Age groups served 
• The number and size of centres and operators
• Participation in the CWELCC program.

Methodology and data sources

This report focuses primarily on growth in full-day spaces for children aged 0 – 5 (infant, toddler and preschool-age spaces). 

This report draws on two primary sources of data to describe and analyze trends in the ELCC sector since 2021.

Childcare Licensing and Accessibility by Region database

Sections 1 to 4 use data from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives proprietary Childcare Licensing and Accessibility by Region (CLAR) database.⁶ CLAR compiles licensing data from each of the provinces on a semi-annual basis, beginning in Q4 2022 (December 2022). 

The database includes: 

• The number of licensed centres and spaces; 
• Breakdown of spaces by auspice (public, not-for-profit, for-profit);
• Breakdown of spaces by age group;⁷ and 
• CWELCC participation (whether spaces are funded or unfunded under CWELCC).  

Limitations of CLAR:

While CLAR provides the most comprehensive cross-provincial snapshot of licensed child care spaces currently available, it has a number of limitations:

• It does not include data for the three territories;
• The methodology makes it difficult to accurately count spaces in licensed family child care;
• In Alberta, CWELCC status cannot be determined from available data; and
• CLAR includes all licensed spaces, regardless of whether or not they are funded. At the same time, it does not include funded spaces that are unlicensed. 

As a result, CLAR excludes certain provincially funded but unlicensed programs, including:

• Quebec: school-age spaces in Quebec are regulated but not licensed;
• Nova Scotia: spaces funded under the Before and After Program (BAP); and 
• Ontario: school-age spaces approved as recreational programs and some extended day programs. 

Challenges in counting spaces for 4- and 5-year-olds

There are broader complexities in counting spaces for 4- and 5-year-olds who are in full-day kindergarten and also attend a before- and after-school program, which extend beyond the CLAR database, but specific limitations for CLAR include: 

• Ontario and Manitoba are the only provinces where spaces for kindergarten-age children are separately identified in licensing data; and 
• In most provinces, spaces for kindergarten-aged children are grouped within school-age spaces, making precise tracking of 4- and 5-year-olds in school-age programs difficult.

Ontario is a notable exception, as data are available on spaces for 4- and 5-year-olds participating in full-day kindergarten and before- and after-school programs. Thus, kindergarten spaces are included in Figure 4 showing Ontario’s 0 – 5 spaces. 

Childcare Resource and Resource Unit data

To address these gaps and limitations and provide longer-term context, Section 5 draws on data from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit’s (CRRU) Early Childhood Education and Care in Canada (ECEC in Canada) series.⁸ This source compiles and analyzes administrative data across all thirteen jurisdictions and enables tracking and comparison of space creation over time.

In addition, CRRU provides data from the three territories and on licensed family child care spaces and homes.

Data on Indigenous child care

There are various types of Indigenous child care, provided on- and off-reserve. The licensing requirements for on-reserve child care vary by province, making it difficult to track and compare licensed and unlicensed Indigenous child care. 

The growth in licensed Indigenous spaces is included in the overall numbers presented throughout this report. Additionally, licensed spaces operated directly by Indigenous governing bodies are included in the public space counts in this report and are detailed further in the Spotlight on public delivery.⁹ The exception is Section 3 on CWELCC status where Indigenous governed centres are not included with the public centres because they receive funding from multiple other sources, often not through CWELCC.

Overall findings

The data in this report provide an early picture of how Canada’s child care system is evolving in the first phase of CWELCC implementation. While progress has been made in expanding licensed capacity, the patterns of growth across provinces, auspices, and service models highlight both important achievements and emerging policy challenges. Key trends include:

• Strong overall growth: Canada added more than 111,000 spaces for children aged 0 – 5 years between 2022 and 2025. This represents a 16.5% increase in these three years;
• Expansion across all auspice types: Although the public, not-for-profit, and for-profit sectors have all expanded, approximately two-thirds of all new spaces for children aged 0 – 5 years operated on a for-profit basis; 
• Participation in CWELCC is high but uneven: Participation is nearly universal among not-for-profit providers, very high among public providers, and lower among for-profit providers;
• Schools remain central to expansion: Approximately 14% of licensed spaces for 0 – 5 year olds are located in schools, and approximately 600 additional school-based facilities opened between 2022 and 2025; and
• Family child care is increasing: Regulated family child care grew by more than 34,000 spaces nationwide, increasing its share from 7.9% to 8.7% of all regulated spaces.

Section 1: Canada-wide expansion

Across Canada, the number of licensed spaces for children 0 – 5¹⁰ increased from 674,117 in 2022 to 785,773 in 2025. This represents a net increase of 111,656 spaces, or 16.5% over the three-year period. 

There was a net increase in spaces across all age groups, with the exception of part-day preschool spaces:

• 16,344 infant spaces (14.6% of net increase);
• 8,890 toddler spaces (8% of net increase); and
• 91,991 full-day preschool spaces (82.4% of net increase)

*0 – 5 spaces include infants, toddlers, and preschool-age spaces.

Changes in the auspice of licensed child care spaces can also be tracked over this period. Figure 2 shows the distribution of the net growth by auspice: of the 111,656 net spaces created between 2022 and 2025, 66.7% were in the for-profit sector, 32.2% in the not-for-profit sector and one per cent in the public sector. 

This pattern of growth resulted in a two per cent increase in the share of for-profit spaces between 2022 and 2025, 52.7% to 54.8%. However, as summarized in the next section, there is variation across provinces. 

Section 2: Provincial trends and comparison

Figure 3 shows that all provinces experienced growth in licensed spaces for children 0 – 5 between 2022 and 2025. The scale of expansion varied, reflecting differences in population size and baseline capacity. As shown in Table 1, growth also varied significantly by auspice.

The balance of expansion across public, not-for-profit, and for-profit sectors differs considerably by province. These differences are important as they indicate whether provincial expansion strategies are reinforcing or shifting the balance of service delivery across auspice. Table 1 below presents both the total increase and distribution of the net growth by auspice.

Nova Scotia stands out as the only province in which both the number and share of full- and part-day spaces for 0 – 5 year olds increased, all in the not-for-profit sector with no expansion in the for-profit sector. In Newfoundland and Labrador, the share of not-for-profit spaces for 0 – 5 year olds increased substantially from 22.6% to 31.5%, while the share of for-profit spaces declined from 73.4% to 65.4%.By contrast, Alberta and British Columbia saw increases in the share of for-profit 0 – 5 spaces. In Alberta, the proportion rose from 69% to 74.8%, and in British Columbia, for-profit share increased from 60.7% to 64%, with corresponding decreases in the not-for-profit share.

As Table 1 details, another way to assess expansion is by examining the number of net spaces created between Q4 2022 and Q3 2025. 

The right-hand columns in Table 1 illustrate the breakdown of growth by auspice within each province. For each province, the total of new spaces equals 100%; therefore a negative figure indicates not only a decrease in the share of spaces, but a net decrease in the number of spaces for that auspice as well. For example, it illustrates that Nova Scotia is the only province with a decrease in the number of for-profit spaces, with all net growth occurring in the not-for-profit sector. In contrast, British Columbia saw increases across all auspice types, although the majority (75.6%) of new spaces were created in the for-profit sector. 

Table 1:  Net change in licensed centre-based spaces, 0 to 5 year olds, 2022-2025

The CLAR database does have the breakdown of licensed spaces for 4- and 5-year-olds in school (kindergarten) in Ontario. Figure 4 below shows that 6,848 (20%) of the net spaces created between 2022 and 2025 in Ontario were for kindergarten-age children.

It’s also important to note that school-age child care spaces represent a large proportion of expansion in some provinces (also see Appendix, Figure A1).

Section 3: CWELCC status of 0 – 5 spaces

A central objective of the CWELCC agreements is to expand the number of licensed and affordable child care spaces across the country. It is therefore essential to track not only overall growth in licensed spaces, but also whether new and existing spaces are operating within the CWELCC-funded system. 

Across provinces there are a range of reasons why a centre may not participate in CWELCC. Some operators may choose to opt-out, while others may not have been approved for funding under provincial allocation processes.  

In Ontario, for example, Service System Managers (SSMs) are responsible for allocating CWELCC spaces and funding based on provincial targets and directed growth strategies. As a result, some centres may not be approved for CWELCC funding if the province has not allocated sufficient CWELCC spaces to that service area. The distribution therefore reflects both differences in provincial eligibility rules and variations in operator participation. 

Overall, the large majority of full-day 0 – 5 spaces are funded by CWELCC. Ontario is the only province where there is a notable difference between for-profit and not-for-profit and public centres, with only three-quarters of for-profit spaces funded by CWELCC.

It’s also important to note that, in Figure 5 Indigenous governed centres are not included with the public centres because they receive funding from multiple other sources, often not through CWELCC. 

Section 4: School-based child care

Schools have long been viewed as important locations for expansion because they are on publicly owned land and are often close to where families live. 

Since 2022, there has been a net increase of approximately 600 school-based facilities, many which serve only school-age children. In 2025, school-age spaces represented the majority (about 77%) of spaces in schools. However, there has been an increase in the number of full-day licensed spaces for 0 – 5 year olds between 2022 and 2025. As Figure 6 shows, there has been a net increase of almost 11,000 spaces for 0 – 5 year olds located in schools. While two-thirds of the overall growth of 0 – 5 year olds spaces was in the for-profit sector (see Figure 2), in school-based spaces, most of the growth (80%) was in the not-for-profit and public sector. 

There has been a slight decrease in the proportion of spaces for children 0 – 5 in school settings, from 14.1% in 2022 to 13.6% in 2025. However, this understates the role of schools in some jurisdictions. When school-age spaces are included (see Figure A1 in Appendix), the proportion is significantly higher. For example, in Ontario, when kindergarten-age spaces are included, in 2025 over half (50.8%) of all licensed spaces for 0 – 5 year olds and kindergarten-age children were located in public schools.

Section 5: Regulated family child care (all jurisdictions)

As noted in the Methodology section, this section draws on data from ECEC in Canada to examine recent trends in expansion of regulated family child care spaces and homes. Unlike CLAR, ECEC in Canada includes data for the three territories, allowing for a more complete pan-Canadian picture of these sectors. 

ECEC in Canada frequently reports both licensed capacity and enrolment for family child care. The analysis in this section uses licensed capacity, defined as the maximum number of children a provider may care for at any given time under provincial or territorial regulations. In practice, many family child care providers operate below their maximum licensed capacity, particularly where providers choose not to serve school-age children.

Figure 7 shows that the number of regulated family child care spaces across Canada increased from 108,574 in 2021 to 142,636 in 2025, an increase of more than 34,000 spaces. 

While centre-based expansion has received the most attention under CWELCC, these data show that family child care capacity has also grown nationally, though it continues to represent a relatively small portion of the overall regulated system. It has, though, increased as a share of the overall regulated child care system: family child care spaces represented 7.9% of all regulated spaces in 2021, rising modestly to 8.7% in 2025.

It is important to interpret these increases cautiously. Growth in regulated family child care spaces and providers may reflect previously unregulated providers becoming licensed, rather than new providers entering the sector. 

In most provinces and territories, all licensed family child care providers are eligible for CWELCC funding, although participation rates vary. For example:

• British Columbia: 96.1% of regulated homes participate in CWELCC;
• New Brunswick: 87.1% participate; and
• Manitoba: 81% participate 

Data on CWELCC participation for family child care are not available for Ontario or Alberta, and are not applicable in Quebec, which operates its own child care funding system.

Table 2 shows changes in regulated family child care capacity by province and territory between 2021 and 2025.

Overall, nine of 13 jurisdictions recorded increases in licensed family child care spaces, although the sale of growth varied considerably.

Several provinces showed particularly significant increases:

• Ontario recorded a substantial increase in licensed capacity, growing from 12,734 to 23,032 spaces, with family child care’s share of the system increasing from 2.7% to 4.1%;
• Alberta more than doubled its family child care capacity, increasing from 8,708 to 18,830 spaces; and
• Nova Scotia also saw steady growth, increasing from 1,190 to 1,746 spaces.

The largest proportional increase occurred in Saskatchewan, where licensed capacity rose from 2,306 to 7,434 spaces, and the share of family child care within the regulated system increased from 13.1% to 28%.

Most of Saskatchewan’s recent family child care expansion occurred through group family child care, a model that permitted up to 12 children with two caregivers. In August, 2025 The Child Care (New Facilities) Amendment Act 2025 increased the maximum capacity to 16 children.¹¹ Between March 31, 2024 and March 31, 2025, group family child care expanded by more than 2,500 spaces, while traditional family child care homes operated by a single provider added only 144 spaces.

In contrast, some jurisdictions experienced declines in family child care capacity, including New Brunswick, Manitoba, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories. In Quebec – the jurisdiction with the largest family child care sector – capacity increased modestly, although the overall share of the system represented by family child care declined slightly, reflecting stronger growth in centre-based services.

Table 2: Number and share of regulated family child care spaces, by province and territory, 2021 and 2025

Discussion and conclusion

The data presented in this report provide an early picture of how Canada’s child care system is evolving in the first phase of the CWELCC initiative. While progress has been made in expanding licensed capacity, the patterns of growth across provinces, auspices, and service models highlight both important achievements and emerging policy challenges.

Strong overall growth in licensed spaces

Between the end of 2022 and the third quarter of 2025, Canada added more than 111,000 licensed centre-based spaces for children aged 0 – 5. This represents a substantial expansion of the regulated system in a relatively short period.

This growth reflects the impact of sustained federal investment and provincial expansion initiatives under CWELCC, as well as the introduction of major fee reductions in most jurisdictions.

Expansion has occurred across all auspices, but the for-profit sector has grown fastest

Although licensed spaces increased in the public, not-for-profit, and for-profit sectors, the majority of new spaces were created in the for-profit sector. Approximately two-thirds of all new spaces for children aged 0 – 5 were created by for-profit providers.

As a result, the overall share of for-profit provision increased modestly during the period examined. This trend varies significantly across provinces. Some jurisdictions, notably Nova Scotia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, have directed most expansion toward not-for-profit providers, while others, including Alberta and British Columbia, have seen a larger share of growth occur in the for-profit sector.

These differing provincial approaches underscore the importance of provincial policy choices and expansion strategies in shaping the future structure of the child care system.

Participation in CWELCC is high but not universal

Across Canada, a large majority of eligible spaces are funded by CWELCC. Differences across provinces reflect variations in eligibility rules, funding mechanisms, and provincial approaches to expansion and enrolment. Ensuring more consistent and equitable participation – particularly across provider types and regions – will be important to achieving the program’s affordability and access objectives. 

Schools and school grounds remain important locations for expansion

School sites continue to play a major role in Canada’s child care infrastructure, with almost 15% of 0 – 5 spaces located in schools, and a much higher proportion of school-age spaces. Approximately 600 additional school-based facilities opened between 2022 and 2025.

While most school-based spaces serve school-age children, some jurisdictions are increasingly using school sites to expand services for younger children, reflecting the potential of publicly owned infrastructure to support planned growth.

Family child care capacity has also increased

Although centre-based expansion has dominated policy discussions, regulated family child care has also grown during this period. Between 2021 and 2025, licensed family child care capacity increased by more than 34,000 spaces nationwide.

Despite this growth, family child care continues to represent a relatively small share of the regulated system. In some jurisdictions, increases in licensed capacity may reflect regulatory changes or previously unlicensed providers becoming licensed rather than large numbers of new providers entering the sector.

Provincial policy choices are shaping the emerging system

A central finding of this analysis is the significant variation across provinces. Jurisdictions differ widely in their expansion strategies, the balance between not-for-profit and for-profit provision, the role of school-based programs, and the extent to which family child care is being supported.

These differences highlight the decentralized nature of Canada’s ELCC system. While CWELCC has established a national framework and common objectives, provincial policies and planning decisions continue to play a central role in determining how expansion unfolds in practice.

Looking ahead

The rapid expansion of licensed capacity between 2022 and 2025 represents an important first phase in the development of Canada’s emerging ELCC system. However, meeting the long-term goals of affordability, accessibility, quality, and expansion primarily in the not-for-profit and public sectors will require continued attention to several key issues, including workforce supply, the balance of public and not-for-profit provision, and the alignment of expansion strategies with community needs.

Ongoing monitoring of system growth will be essential to assess whether current trends are moving the system toward greater equity and sustainability. 

Appendix

School-age expansion: Summary tables

The tables in this Appendix present the number of licensed spaces in the six provinces for which data on school-age spaces are available in both 2022 and 2025.

As noted earlier, there are some limitations to tracking school-age expansion because of differences in the ways that provinces regulate, fund, and deliver school-age spaces:

• The CLAR database did not record school-age spaces in New Brunswick or Prince Edward Island in 2022, making it difficult to track expansion between 2022 and 2025;
• Quebec: school-age spaces in Quebec are the responsibility of the Ministère de l’Éducation; and are regulated but not licensed; and
• Saskatchewan: school-age spaces operated by school authorities do not have to be licensed.

Additionally, CLAR excludes certain provincially funded but unlicensed programs, including:

• Nova Scotia: school-age spaces funded under the Before and After Program (BAP) in Nova Scotia are not licensed; and
• Ontario: licensed school-age spaces are counted, but approved recreational programs and unlicensed extended day programs are not.

Expansion by province

Table A1 shows that all six provinces recorded an increase in licensed school-age spaces. Figure A1 shows that, in these six provinces, spaces for 0 – 5 year olds still represented the majority of the increase in net growth in spaces, however, in all provinces, between 25% and 46% of new spaces were school-age spaces.

Table A1: Number of licensed school age¹² spaces, by province, 2022 and 2025

Expansion by auspice

Table A2 shows the distribution of net growth in school-age spaces for the six provinces with available data. Manitoba was the only province where there was a decrease in for-profit delivery for school-age spaces, compared to Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador, with over 70% of all new licensed spaces (net growth) created by for-profit operators. In Nova Scotia, Ontario, and British Columbia, more than half of the net growth in licensed school- age spaces were created by not-for-profit operators. Notably, Ontario and British Columbia both increased public delivery of school age spaces: in Ontario, 32.9% of the net growth of school-age spaces and, in British Columbia, 18.8% were operated by public entities, primarily school authorities. 

Table A2: Distribution of net growth of licensed school age spaces, by province, between 2022 and 2025

Expansion in schools

As Figure A2 shows, for the provinces that are counted in the CLAR in 2022 and 2025, the majority (72.4%) of licensed spaces in schools are school-age spaces. There was a net increase of 33,437 licensed spaces in schools between 2022 and 2025, and 23,539 (70%) of these spaces were school-age.

Acknowledgements

The data used in this report is from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives proprietary Childcare Licensing and Accessibility by Region (CLAR) database. We thank David Macdonald for his calculations to produce this data. 

For more information about the methodology used in the CLAR please see Cash Cow: Assessing child care space creation progress. Available at: https://www.policyalternatives.ca/news-research/cash-cow-assessing-child-care-space-creation-progress/   

Any mistakes in the tables and graphs are those of Child Care Now. 

The ideas, views and opinions in this publication belong to the authors. They may not reflect those of the Government of Canada.

Footnotes

1. Quebec signed an asymmetrical agreement, which allows the province to continue to develop its own ELCC system without a negotiated action plan, while receiving its share of CWELCC funding. ↩︎
2. Quebec extended its asymmetrical funding agreement allowing the province to fund its own priorities. ↩︎
3. Government of Canada, 2025. Canada and Alberta agree to one-year extension of early learning and child care. ↩︎
4. ELCC refers to ‘early learning and child care.’ It is the terminology used in the CWELCC agreements and official policy document. In this document, ELCC is used interchangeably with ‘child care. ↩︎
5. Child Care Now (2024) Pan-Canadian growth of Early Learning and Child Care since 2008. Child Care Now. https://childcarenow.ca/pan-canadian-growth-of-early-learning-and-child-care-growth-since-2008/  ↩︎
6. For more information about the methodology used in the CLAR please see Cash Cow: Assessing child care space creation progress. ↩︎
7. In this report 0 – 5 year olds refers to the types of licensed child care spaces for children who are not in school. In CLAR there are two categories of licensed spaces for school-aged children: school-age care and kindergarten-age, which is broken out in Ontario and Manitoba. When referring to 0 – 5 year old child care in this report, we are excluding these two categories of spaces (even though there may be some spaces for 4 – 5 year olds that are captured in school-age and kindergarten-age spaces). ↩︎
8. CRRU (2026) Early childhood education and care in Canada series, https://childcarecanada.org/publications/ecec-in-canada  ↩︎
9. Child Care Now (2026) Spotlight on public delivery of licensed child care in Canada, https://childcarenow.ca/2026/05/27/spotlight-on-public-delivery-of-licensed-child-care-in-canada/ ↩︎
10. As noted in the Methodology, the 0 – 5 spaces reported in the Canada-wide figures do not include 4- and 5-year-olds in full-day school. 0 – 5 spaces include infants, toddlers, and preschool-age spaces. Many children in jurisdictions with part-day kindergarten programs are enrolled in full-day preschool-age spaces. ↩︎
11. The Child Care (New Facilities) Amendment Act, 2025, SS 2025, c3, p4. https://canlii.ca/t/56jqv ↩︎
12. The numbers for school age spaces include spaces for kindergarten age children where they are included with other school age children. ↩︎

References

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives proprietary Childcare licensing and Accessibility by Region (CLAR) database. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Child Care Now (2026) Spotlight on public delivery of licensed child care in Canada, Child Care Now. https://childcarenow.ca/2026/05/27/spotlight-on-public-delivery-of-licensed-child-care-in-canada/

Childcare Resource and Research Unit (2026) Early childhood education and care in Canada series. Childcare Resource and Research Unit. Available at: https://childcarecanada.org/publications/ecec-in-canada 

Government of Canada, 2025. ‘Canada and Alberta agree to one-year extension of early learning and child care’. Available at: https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/news/2025/12/canada-and-alberta-agree-to-one-year-extension-of-early-learning-and-child-care-agreements.html 

ISBN (web): 978-1-0678419-8-0