What $10-a-Day Was Supposed to Be
In 2021, the federal government launched the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement — the "$10-a-day daycare" program. The promise: licensed childcare for every Canadian family at an average of $10 per day by March 2026, with 250,000 new spaces created nationwide. The federal government committed $30 billion over five years to make it happen.
It was a compelling vision. Working parents — particularly mothers re-entering the workforce — would finally have access to childcare that didn't consume an entire paycheque.
Five years later, the evidence is in. And for the many families still sitting on waitlists, still paying far more than $10 a day, still struggling to find a single available spot — the reality has fallen well short of the promise.
"The program was designed to solve a childcare crisis. In many communities, it deepened one."
The Problems With the Subsidized System
These are not opinions — they are documented outcomes of the program as it has unfolded across Canada, including in Nova Scotia:
- Exploding waitlists. Nationally, the proportion of children aged 0–5 on a waitlist grew from 19% in 2022 to nearly 31% by 2025. In some Ontario cities, waitlists are so long daycares have stopped taking new names — children added today would be in school before a spot opens.
- Private daycares forced out. Centres that declined to join the program faced funding cuts and staff pay reductions designed to compel participation. Many chose to close rather than surrender operational control. The result: fewer total spots, not more.
- Benefits flowing to the wrong families. UBC researchers studying the program's impact on low-income single mothers had to abandon their work in 2024 — they could find only 13 qualifying families actually receiving the subsidy. The majority of spaces went to middle- and upper-income households.
- Declining care quality. As governments tightened administrative control over participating centres, many operators say day-to-day decision-making about their own programs has been significantly eroded.
- Fees have risen, not fallen. In some markets, unsubsidized care has climbed to $50–$60 per day. The program increased demand without proportionally increasing supply — families outside the system face a more expensive market, not a cheaper one.
- Mixed-age ratios imposed on home daycares. Approved home daycares must maintain a mixed-age group under agency management — up to 7 children including infants and children of different developmental stages. For providers who specialize in a single age group, this fundamentally changes what they can offer.
- Delayed payments and financial instability. Subsidized home daycares receive payment through a chain: parents → agency → provincial Department → agency → provider. This can take weeks. In documented cases, this model allowed families to leave without paying their share.
- Fraud and payment for empty spots. The program's structure — paying for registered spots regardless of occupancy — created incentives for providers to report unfilled age-specific spots as available. Investigations into subsidy fraud have been launched in multiple provinces.
- Nova Scotia targets missed. The province committed to 9,500 new spaces by March 2025 and a 59% coverage rate. Both targets were missed. Some publicly funded facilities have opened but sit empty over administrative disputes, while hundreds of children sit on external waitlists.
None of this means the program's goals were wrong. Affordable, accessible childcare matters enormously. But a low fee does not automatically produce good care — and a government subsidy does not automatically produce an available spot.
The Tax Reality Most Parents Don't Know
Before the CWELCC program existed, childcare in Canada was already substantially tax-deductible — a fact consistently overlooked in discussions about affordability.
The Federal Childcare Expense Deduction
Parents can claim up to $8,000 per child under age 7 as a childcare expense deduction on their federal tax return. The deduction is claimed by the lower-income spouse and reduces net income.
Up to 80%+of your childcare costs can be recovered through the tax system when both parents work and are in higher tax brackets — bringing your effective daily cost to less than $10 per day, without waitlists, without mixed-age groups, and without surrendering your choice of caregiver.
* Tax laws change periodically. Consult a tax professional for current eligibility and limits specific to your household.
This means that for many working families, the subsidized program offers a benefit the tax system was already providing — at the cost of choice, quality, and availability. The real question is not simply "is this daycare $10 a day?" but "what am I actually getting for what I actually pay?"
How We Compare
| Subsidized System | Ayeshah's Childcare | |
|---|---|---|
| Age group | Mixed ages — infants through preschoolers together | Exclusively toddlers, 20 months – 4 years |
| Attention | Divided across wide developmental range; infants require disproportionate time | Equal, focused attention — no infant demands competing for your child's caregiver |
| Routine | Must accommodate wildly different age-group needs simultaneously | One consistent, age-appropriate routine all children follow together |
| Meals | Meals provided — difficult to accommodate individual dietary preferences | Parents provide lunch; you choose what your child eats |
| School prep | Varies widely by facility | Explicit mission: colours, counting, shapes, social skills — preschool-ready |
| Communication | Typically a daily sign-out sheet | Daily photos & videos; parental guidance on development; educational blog |
| Operator control | Agency oversight, government funding conditions, mandated policies | Fully independent — every decision made for the children in our care |
| Availability | Waitlists measured in months or years | Spaces available by application and interview |
| Background checks | Required for approved providers | Vulnerable sector + child abuse register checks, both adults in the home |
| Payment | Delayed — flows through agency and department, often weeks late | Paid in advance, directly to the provider — stable and transparent |
Why We Made This Choice
We chose to remain private and independent because joining the approved system would require us to fundamentally change what we do. We would have to accept infants into a toddler environment. We would have to surrender control of our daily operations to an agency. We would have to provide meals rather than allowing parents to nourish their own children their own way. We would have to wait weeks to be paid for care we have already provided.
Each of these conditions would compromise the quality, philosophy, and environment that defines us — and that defines the outcomes our families have come to expect.
Public schools are free. And yet private schools exist — and thrive — because some families determine that quality, environment, and intentionality are worth choosing deliberately. The same logic applies to early childhood care.
We are fully insured, first aid certified, and both adults in the home hold current vulnerable sector checks and child abuse register checks — meeting and exceeding the standards of approved providers. We simply operate independently, because independence is what allows us to put your child's needs first, every time.
We have been doing this for over ten years. The families who have trusted us with their children's toddler years have seen those children walk confidently into preschool ready for everything ahead. That is the outcome we exist to deliver.