Ontario promises nearly 3,000 additional child care spaces in Ottawa by 2026

More families in Ottawa will soon have access to affordable child care.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce was in Nepean on Thursday to announce 2,900 additional spaces at licensed facilities.

The move comes as the industry deals with a staffing crisis trying to recruit enough early childhood educators to fill the roles needed to make sure that these spaces can be filled.

Ottawa resident Amal Samha waited months for a spot for her son at a local licensed child care facility.

"It took me like eight months," Samha said. "Some people usually put their name on the list once they know that they’re pregnant."

Samha says she has to walk upwards of an hour a day to get her son to and from the facility, but the location closer to home was an even longer wait.

"I needed to start my practicum and I needed to start eagerly," she said. "More people need more space and if you cannot find space you, you can’t move forward with your education or work."

The province is promising more than $178 million in 2023 as part of the Canada-wide early learning and child care system.

Lecce says nearly 3,000 child care spaces will be created in Ottawa by 2026. The spaces will be made available for children ages 5 and under, but it comes as the industry deals with a staffing crunch.

"It’s going to take some time to build the spaces and it’s going to take some time to recruit the staff," said Marni Flaherty, interim chair of the Canadian Child Care Federation. "We are on a journey, so hopefully by the time the spaces are built, we have early childhood educators to help support those spaces and the educators need to be paid properly."

In 2022, the Ontario government added about 29,600 spaces for the national capital region. With the new spaces promised Thursday, Lecce says these changes will cut in half the amount that families pay for a child care space, saving up to $10,000 per child.