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Half of all provinces aren’t offering $10-a-day child care, and it’s unlikely they will reach that lower rate by the 2026 target, says a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Just six provinces or territories have “met or exceeded” the daily $10 charge — though fees have been reduced by huge amounts, in Ontario in particular — and even getting to an average of $10 a day in the remaining ones will be challenging, the centre says.

“Parents in five jurisdictions probably won’t be at $10 a day — so there will be a lot of people in those provinces paying more than $10 a day, Ontario being one of them,” along with New Brunswick, Alberta, British Columbia and Nova Scotia, said David Macdonald, a senior economist with the centre.

“There certainly is some wiggle room” in the daycare agreements, he added. Ontario, however, “is one of the ones that will miss it, but they will be a fair amount closer to $10 than several other provinces.”

However, he noted, the “the fee drops for parents so far have been staggering” in Ontario, Alberta and Nunavut given child-care costs had gotten “out of control” before the federal daycare program was created.

Fees in Toronto are about $22 a day.

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