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Childcare wait lists have rapidly grown since Ontario signed on to the federal government’s national $10-a-day program.
The demand for the cheaper daycare spaces has far exceeded the addition of new spaces, and filling the gap has proven a challenging task for many municipalities and cities across the province.
Stouffville Town Council has taken a big step in an effort to be proactive with those concerns when it recently announced a “unanimous approval” to receive a modular daycare facility from a development project in Mississauga.
The five-year-old facility is expected to be relocated to Stouffville in the coming months and will help deal with the increasing demand in the town by adding 82 new daycares spots.
The home for the new daycare building will be on the property of the Stouffville Clippers Sports Complex, located on Weldon Road. The setup of the new facility is expected to start this summer.
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Several municipalities in the province find themselves with central waiting lists for open daycare spots.
In the Region of Waterloo, since the announcement of the $10-a-day program, there has been a 115 percent increase in the number of kids on the waiting list. Over 9,200 kids are now waiting.
Niagara Region has seen a 76 percent rise in its waiting list, while Ottawa’s waiting list has increased more than 41 percent.
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Another concern for the federal government is the shortage of early childhood educators to work in these daycare facilities.
With Ontario looking to add some 86,000 new spaces by 2026, the federal government has warned that the province could be short by over 8,500 early childhood educators.
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