The Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system, popularly known as “$10-a-day childcare,” represents the most significant federal social program in generations. Launched in 2021 with a historic investment of nearly $30 billion over five years, the program aims to transform a fragmented patchwork of services into a universal, publicly managed system. But is it actually working? This is the full story on the program’s successes, its profound challenges, and its future.
Part 1: The Architecture of a New Social Program
The federal government’s vision for the CWELCC system is built upon five foundational pillars: **affordability, accessibility, quality, inclusivity, and flexibility**. The primary goal is to reduce average parent fees for regulated childcare to **$10 per day by March 2026** and to create over **250,000 new, affordable spaces** across the country. To secure this vision for the long term, the federal government passed the Canada Early Learning and Child Care Act, which legally enshrines these principles and commits to ongoing funding.
The program is operationalized through a series of bilateral agreements between the federal government and each of the 13 provinces and territories, reflecting a complex exercise in Canadian federalism.
Part 2: The View from the Ground – A Story of Contrasts
The implementation of the system is a tale of two very different stories: a resounding success in affordability, and a profound struggle with accessibility.
Success: Affordability and Economic Stimulus
The affordability pillar has been the most visible and rapidly successful component. Parent fees have been dramatically reduced nationwide, providing thousands of dollars in annual relief to hundreds of thousands of families. As of early 2025, eight jurisdictions have already reached or surpassed the $10-a-day average. This has acted as a powerful economic engine, driving women’s labour force participation to record highs. A 2024 analysis from the Centre for Future Work estimated that the program generated an additional **$32 billion in GDP** in 2024 alone.
The Bottleneck: Not Enough Spaces, Not Enough Staff
The program’s success in lowering fees has unleashed a surge in demand that the supply side is wholly unprepared to meet, creating a critical implementation bottleneck.
- The Space Crisis: Progress on creating the targeted 250,000 new spaces is lagging in many provinces. A 2023 analysis found that nearly half of all young children in Canada live in “**childcare deserts**”—postal codes with more than three children for every one licensed space.
- The Workforce Crisis: More fundamentally, the system is crippled by a severe workforce crisis. Chronically low wages and poor working conditions for Early Childhood Educators (ECEs) have led to a critical shortage of qualified professionals. A recent report on the ECE labour shortage highlights the immense challenge, with provinces like Ontario projecting a shortfall of thousands of educators needed to staff the planned expansion.
These two crises are locked in a vicious cycle: a lack of staff prevents new spaces from opening, and the poor quality of many existing facilities contributes to the conditions that drive educators from the profession.
Part 3: The Path Forward – A Shift to System-Building
While the program’s short-term economic benefits are real, its long-term promise—improved child development and sustained productivity growth—is at risk. These deeper benefits depend on the provision of high-quality care, which is being undermined by the workforce and infrastructure deficits.
The future of Canada’s childcare transformation now hinges on a critical policy pivot: a shift in focus from the largely solved problem of fee reduction to the urgent, complex task of system-building. This requires moving away from a market-driven rollout toward a publicly planned approach to expansion, one that strategically addresses the need for both physical infrastructure and, most importantly, a well-compensated, respected, and stable professional workforce.