The $10-a-Day Child Care Promise Is Cracking — And Families Will Pay the Price

It’s becoming increasingly clear that Ottawa’s ambitious $10-a-day child care plan won’t be fully realized by its 2026 deadline — and families across Canada should brace themselves for disappointment.

A new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) confirms what many already suspected: only six provinces and territories have actually reached the $10 target. The rest are lagging behind, and some haven’t even outlined a concrete plan to meet it. In a country where the cost of living continues to climb and families are already stretched thin, this feels like a broken promise in the making.

Let’s be clear: the $10-a-day child care initiative was a bold, hopeful commitment made in 2021 under former prime minister Justin Trudeau. It was supposed to be a game-changer, giving Canadian families affordable access to quality care and enabling more parents—especially women—to return to the workforce. But now, just a year out from the deadline, the gaps in the plan are impossible to ignore.

Ontario, Nova Scotia, Alberta, B.C., and New Brunswick are all off-track. Cities in these provinces still have eye-watering fees. Richmond, B.C., for example, has median infant care costs of $39 per day—nearly four times the target. Even if fees have dropped, the end result is still unaffordable for many parents.

David Macdonald, the CCPA economist behind the report, calls the federal government’s “average” $10-per-day goal a “get out of jail free card.” And he’s not wrong. By focusing on averages rather than firm limits, the government has left room for significant regional discrepancies. Some parents may indeed pay $10 a day or less—but many others will continue shelling out $12, $17, or even $20 per day. That’s not a win. That’s a technicality.

Sure, fee reductions in places like Ontario and Alberta have been substantial—up to $1,300 per month in Toronto. But those savings don’t erase the frustration parents will feel in 2026 when they realize they’re still not getting what was promised. And while Quebec hovers just under the target, even they’ve seen slight increases due to inflation.

But perhaps the bigger issue looming behind the fee debate is the severe shortage of child care spaces. Lower prices naturally mean higher demand. Without a massive expansion of child care infrastructure and staffing, many families simply won’t be able to find a spot—no matter how low the fees are.

Experts like Martha Friendly are sounding the alarm: we need to focus on creating more public and non-profit child care spaces, and we need to invest in the workers who make the system function. That means fair wages, decent working conditions, and a commitment to building a workforce that can support the growing demand.

The bottom line? While there’s been real progress—and yes, many parents are seeing meaningful savings—the $10-a-day child care dream is in danger of becoming just another political slogan. If the federal government wants to avoid a public backlash in 2026, it needs to move beyond headlines and into action: more funding, more accountability, and more urgency.

Otherwise, families will continue to wait—both for child care they can afford, and for the trust they placed in a promise that may never fully arrive.