The Office of the Auditor General of Canada plays a critical role in auditing government programs to ensure they operate as intended and deliver value for taxpayers. This work brings transparency and accountability to our federal government.
This week, the Auditor General released two new reports: one on the Liberals’ Canada-wide early learning and childcare system and another on the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). I’ll focus on the childcare report.
The Liberals’ early learning and childcare program—often called “ten-dollar-a-day childcare”—was launched with a promise to create 250,000 new spaces at a cost of $35 billion over five years, from April 2021 to March 2026. For a government that claims to dislike slogans, they sure seem fond of “ten-dollar-a-day.”
So far, after four years, only 112,000 new spaces have been created, and the average fee remains $16.50 per day—not the ten-dollar-a-day that was promised. The Auditor General warned there is a risk these commitments will not be met and raised concerns that “not only are fewer spaces being created than anticipated, but those spaces may also not be equitably accessible to diverse or vulnerable families.”
The report noted that while the department successfully delivered funding to provinces and territories, it did not sufficiently assess whether federal funding met objectives to support vulnerable children and Indigenous early learning. Public reporting on results was also delayed and incomplete.
Locally, I often hear that the Liberals’ childcare program is hard to access, with long waitlists and limited availability in some areas. Provinces have flexibility in how they deliver the program, but some have argued it is underfunded despite signing agreements to expand affordable childcare.
This reflects a broader pattern with recent Liberal governments: big promises at election time, followed by programs that fall short despite massive spending. In this case, less than half of the promised spaces have been created, and the average cost is still well above ten-dollar-a-day.
Beyond the Auditor General’s findings, there’s another issue: who benefits most from these savings? Analysis by The Hub found that most of the financial benefit from the ten-dollar-a-day program goes to higher-income families. The top income group received nearly 60 percent of the total savings, while the lowest-income families saw only a tiny fraction. In other words, the program is helping wealthier families much more than those who need it most.
According to Statistics Canada, there were more than 2.2 million children under five in Canada in 2021. As of early 2022, just over half were in some form of childcare. With roughly 1.1 million children in care, adding 112,000 spaces so far represents only about a 10 percent expansion—at a cost of $35 billion. And it’s unclear what funding will look like after March 2026.
My question this week: Are you or anyone you know having difficulty accessing affordable childcare here in the Central Okanagan?
Please chime in on the lively discussion online on my Facebook Page or contact me directly with your thoughts by emailing me at [email protected] or call toll-free 1-800-665-8711.
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