A new report released this week reveals that the expansion of affordable child care services in Ontario has delivered a substantial economic boost to the province, even as the provincial government lags behind national progress in implementing the new national program. Click here to read the full report and here for the one-page summary
The report, commissioned from the Centre for Future Work by the OCBCC and the AECEO, found that Ontario’s GDP in 2024 was $13.6 billion higher than it would have been without the expansion of child care since 2019, generating approximately $2.25 billion in extra provincial revenue in 2024 alone. This amount slightly exceeded the provincial funding to child care that year, indicating the program effectively pays for itself through increased economic activity.
The findings in the new report confirm that even with Ontario’s partial and inconsistent rollout of the $10-a-day program causing challenges with implementation, expanding affordable child care brought enormous economic gains for the province. But while the economy is benefiting from affordable child care, the people who make the system possible – the workforce – continue to be left behind by the government of Ontario. We must continue pressuring the province to sign a new five-year agreement with the federal government and commit to improving compensation for everyone who works in the ELCC sector.
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