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Demand for child care in Ottawa soars 300 per cent, new report finds

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More parents drawn to child care as prices fall to $22 a day for many programs
Author: 
Porter, Kate
Format: 
Article
Publication Date: 
22 Apr 2025
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Excerpts

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Since the Canada-wide program started rolling out in Ontario in 2022, the shortage of affordable spots has become especially acute for Francophones and infants under 18 months, as well as at Indigenous-led centres, a new city report says.

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7,000 children still need spots

At that Aladin location in Elmvale Acres, Laflamme is renovating a room to add spots for 24 more pre-schoolers.

They are among the 2,903 new spaces that have been allocated to Ottawa over the first five years of the new national child-care program, bringing the total spaces for children under the age of six to more than 26,000 locally. 

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Many people mistakenly think the $10-a-day national system is universal and there will definitely be a spot for them, said Jason Sabourin, director of children's services at the City of Ottawa.

But funding the system so every child is served would be a decision to be made by the Ontario government and not the city, he said.

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