Executive summary
Governments in Canada have become increasingly active in supporting the delivery of child care programs. Public investment in child care advances a number of goals, including making parenting more affordable for families; promoting gender equality by facilitating the return of women to the labour market after an initial period of maternity leave; expanding early learning opportunities for young children; and increasing readiness for school.
This report explores the extent of public support for government-subsidized child care programs in Canada. It presents the results of an extensive survey of public opinion on the topic conducted in early 2025 by the Environics Institute for Survey Research in partnership with YMCA Canada and YWCA Canada.
The survey finds that, generally speaking, there is broad public support for policies that enhance the affordability and accessibility of high-quality child care programs for pre-school age children. For instance, a large majority (just over four in five) agree with the idea that “Canada should be a country where affordable and high-quality child care for young children is available to all parents who need it.” In addition, three in four Canadians say that pre-school age children in their community benefit from attending child care programs outside of the home.
Two other findings in particular stand out. First, despite current concerns about the cost of living, support for government spending on child care rivals that for tax reductions. When asked about measures that governments could take to make life more affordable for parents with young children, increased funding for child care centres, and reducing the overall rate of income tax attract similar levels of public support. Moreover, by a large margin, Canadians – when asked to choose – would prefer the option of maintaining government subsidies for child care centres over that of withdrawing the subsidies in order to finance tax cuts.
Second, public priorities for government spending are strongly related to age, with older Canadians being much more focused on the need to increase funding for health care and services for seniors, and less so on programs such as child care and education that more directly benefit younger families. As society ages, and the political weight of older-age generations in the population increases, these differences between the priorities of older and younger Canadians are an increasingly important factor shaping government decision-making.
Finally, a majority of Canadians support the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) program, which provides federal funding to provinces and territories so that they can, in turn, work with providers to increase access to child care spaces for parents at an average cost of $10 per day. While support is higher among parents with young children, a majority of those without children support the program as well. Opinions on the program are strongly related to views on the appropriate role or size of government, with those who favour larger government being more strongly supportive. It is notable, however, that even those who prefer a smaller role for government, or who have a more negative view of taxes, support the CWELCC program.
Highlights
- A large majority of Canadians (83%) agree with the idea that “Canada should be a country where affordable and high-quality child care for young children is available to all parents who need it.”
- Three in four (75%) Canadians say that pre-school age children in their community benefit from attending child care programs outside of the home.
- Asked to choose which of two statements is closest to their own opinion, 55 percent favour the idea that “governments should help parents with young children pay for the cost of child care, in order to make it more affordable for people to have children.” However, a significant minority (36%) instead sides with the opposing view, namely that “if people want to have children, they should be prepared to pay for the full costs of child care themselves.”
- According to Canadians, the most critically important reasons for providing government funding for child care programs are to ensure that mothers can return to work after they have children (48%), to make life more affordable for parents (44%), and to give children more opportunities to start learning at an early age (42%).
- The proportion of Canadians who would like to see more spending on child care outnumbers that who would like to see less spending by a margin of two-to-one. Nevertheless, the proportion preferring more spending on child care is lower than that for other programs such as health care, housing or education.
- Public priorities for government spending differ significantly by age. In two areas – health care and social services for the elderly – support for spending more is higher among older people than younger people. In three other areas – education, social services for children and youth, and child care – the reverse is the case, with support for more spending being higher among younger people.
- Four in five Canadians say that it is important for governments to increase funding for services that support families whose children have a disability, so these children have the same opportunities as other children in Canada.
- As measures that governments can take to make life more affordable for parents with young children, increased funding for child care centres, and reducing the overall rate of income tax attract similar levels of support, with about seven in ten Canadians saying each is important.
- When asked to choose between the two, preference for keeping government funding for child care (61%) in place significantly outweighs that for giving all parents a tax break (26%).
- About one in two Canadians say that it is either very or somewhat hard for parents in their community to find affordable, high-quality child care, compared to 29 percent who say it is somewhat or very easy.
- From a list of different types of services or assistance, parents are most likely to select access to affordable child care as the one that would have made it easier to be a parent to a young child.
- At the time of the survey in early 2025, one in two Canadians said that they had heard or read something about the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) program, which provides federal funding to provinces and territories so that they can, in turn, work with providers to offer more child care spaces for parents at an average cost of $10 per day.
- A majority of Canadians (68%) support the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) program. The program is supported by majorities of both parents and those without children.