{
  "id": 7655847,
  "title": "Four years into $10/day program, child-care waitlists growing in some Ontario cities",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/15/four-years-into-10-day-program-child-care-waitlists-growing-in-some-7655847",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-15T23:24:12.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "CityNews",
    "slug": "citynews",
    "url": "https://toronto.citynews.ca/2026/09/15/four-years-into-10-day-program-child-care-waitlists-growing-in-some-ontario-cities/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "When Angela Zhu learned she was pregnant, she and her husband joined 40 different daycare waitlists in Toronto, believing their efforts would pay off. However, their optimism proved futile as a year later, they only secured one offer – a facility 30 minutes away, with a start date months after Zhu's return to work. After two and a half years of enduring long commutes and more than three years on waitlists, they finally secured a spot in their neighbourhood. While most provinces are offering average fees of $10 a day under the national program, Ontario has yet to meet this target, capping fees at $22 a day – significantly lower than the $70 some daycare spots commanded before the program began four years ago. However, some parents and child-care advocates are urging Ontario to prioritize expansion over further fee reductions. The province aimed to create 86,000 affordable spaces by now but has fallen short at just under 60,000. In fact, the demand spurred by lower fees may necessitate nearly 220,000 new spaces, according to Ontario's financial accountability officer. The situation is particularly dire in Toronto, where Blossoming Minds daycare has had to close its waitlist multiple times, with over 700 names on its list. The city of Ottawa has seen an alarming 300% increase in families seeking child care since 2019, with about 8,500 children currently on the central waitlist. To meet the demand, Ottawa needs to add around 7,400 new spaces, though it has only allocated 2,900 under the provincial expansion plan.",
  "summary": "When Angela Zhu was newly pregnant, she knew that finding a daycare spot in Toronto would be challenging so she and her husband joined 40 different waitlists, thinking surely that would be sufficient. It wasn’t. “My friend joked to me, ‘As soon as you get the positive pregnancy test, don’t even wait to have an […]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Winnipeg Free Press",
        "title": "Four years into $10/day program, child-care waitlists growing in some Ontario cities",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/15/four-years-into-10-day-program-child-care-waitlists-growing-in-some",
        "published": "2026-09-15T18:33:35.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}