Parent fees
Until 2021, regulated child care in Canada was primarily supported by parent fees. Most provinces/territories paid some part of the cost of operating centres or regulated family child care but outside Quebec, these funds were too limited to reduce parent fees to make them sufficiently “affordable”.
This has changed significantly, as new public funding has replaced parent fees as the main source of income for regulated child care. Since the Canada-wide Early learning and Child Care (CWELCC) plan was introduced in 2021, child care has become much more publicly funded in Canada.
Quebec … has two different child care funding models. In the first, called “funded” or “subsidized” or “reduced contribution”, the child care service receives most of the operating cost directly from the provincial government except a small set parent fee. In the second, called “unfunded” or “unsubsidized”, the centre is not funded; the parent receives a tax credit to help with parent fees.
“Affordability” was agreed to the federal government and all provinces/territories as the first goal to tackle. The first step to more affordable child care was cutting fees by 50% (average) by December 2022, with a second step reducing parent fees to $10 a day (average) by 2025. By 2023, several provinces/territories had already reduced their fees to $10 a day.
Participating in CWELCC fee reduction is optional for child care service providers. Canada-wide, most are part of the fee reduction programme. If the service provider has chosen not to participate, parents cannot access reduced fees.
Before CWELCC, four provincial governments had begun to set parent fees province-wide. Quebec lead the way in 1997, with Manitoba, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador all establishing set parent fees in most regulated child care before 2021. Since CWELCC, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, and Nunuvut also set parent fees for a majority of centres, with set fee “$10 a day” programmes a growing minority in British Columbia.
Fees are quite variable in provinces/territories where the government does not set parent fees,. Fees also depend on the child’s age, whether child care is full- or part-time, and on how much public funding there is from the specific province/ territory. Since the 2022 fee reduction, all provinces and territories set limits on fee increases.
Fee subsidies
See the provincial/territorial pages for details of subsidies and funding in your area.
Further details about parent fees and fee subsidies in your area can be found in the provincial/territorial chapters in Early childhood education and care in Canada: 2021.
Fee subsidy programs to help eligible lower income parents with their child care costs have been used Canada-wide since the 1970s. In all provinces/territories except Quebec, eligible families may be subsidized to partly or fully cover their child care fees. With the introduction of CWELCC, most provinces/territories continue to have both financial and social criteria for subsidy eligibility.
Canada-wide, parent fee subsidies are mostly administered by provincial/territorial governments. In Ontario, fee subsidies are administered by 47 local municipal or regional government entities.
Things to know about fee subsidies
- In most provinces/territories, eligible parents can only access a fee subsidy if they can find a regulated space that meets their needs.
- In most provinces/territories, parents are guaranteed a fee subsidy if they fit the eligibility criteria. In Ontario, there are municipal waiting lists for subsidies.
- In almost all provinces/territories, fee subsidies can only be used in regulated child care centres and regulated family child care.
- Fee subsidies in Canada are always paid directly to the child care service, not the parent.
In unregulated child care...
Parents pay the full out-of-pocket cost in unregulated child care. The (federal) Child Care Expense Deduction can be claimed for child care costs on the annual income tax form if a receipt is available from the child care provider.
Quebec and Ontario have their own tax credits that can be claimed for unregulated child care.
Other public funds for child care
- The federal Child Care Expense Deduction (CCED) is calculated as a tax deduction on the income tax form; the value varies by income and may be available for children up to 16 years of age.
- Additionally, Quebec and Ontario each has a child care tax credit program.