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Working mom of two Jen Boyter says she was shocked when she pulled out a letter from her child’s backpack informing her that their daily daycare rates would be going up significantly.
Her kids attend Stepping Stone Preschool and Child Care Centre in Kingston, N.S., where she’s been paying $12 per day for her one-year-old and $13.75 per day for her toddler.
Last week, she was informed that starting April 1, parent fees would increase to $22 and $19.75 per day, respectively.
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Stepping Stone was purchased by the Nova Scotia College of Early Childhood Education (NSCECE) in August 2025. The college is a not-for-profit organization that provides education to early childhood educators, and runs a series of child-care centres across the province.
The provincial Department of Education is providing $2.5 million to the NSCECE to expand its facility in Kingston from approximately 40 to 80 spaces. The new centre is slated to open in a few months.
Joe Malek, president and CEO of NSCECE, told CBC News in an interview that the money from the province is strictly capital funding, but the daycare’s operating costs are expected to go up significantly.
He said this is why parent fees, which haven’t been raised since 2015, must be increased.
“We’re sensitive to the fact that families are all trying to balance budgets, and it’s difficult. The costs for everybody are going up, including us,” Malek said, who pointed out that Stepping Stone did not break even last year and actually lost some money.
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$10-a-day average
The fee increase comes at a time when the province has confirmed it will miss its target to achieve $10 per day daycare fees on average — an agreement outlined in a bilateral agreement with Ottawa — by March 31, 2026.
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