Lana Dunn

Mom of 2 and home daycare provider.

[Lana Dunn @lanadunn72]

@ACE_National_ It’s not difficult to spend other people’s money, especially when they aren’t held accountable. It’s gross.

[Association of Canadian Early Learning Programs @ACE_National_]

sounds like another national program I know.... $30billion for how many NEW childcare spaces???

[Danny Deraney @DannyDeraney]

49 years ago today, Fonzie, clad in leather jacket and cut off jeans, "jumped the shark" on Happy Days.

[Association of Canadian Early Learning Programs @ACE_National_]

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆?

We all know the saying: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

Yet here we are again.

Another report. Another proposal for billions more in taxpayer funding. And another push for essentially the same approach to childcare that has left too many families without access.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ new Alternative Federal Budget acknowledges the problems:

Parents are frustrated and sitting on “long wait lists.”

Expansion has not kept up with demand.

There aren’t enough educators to maintain existing programs and open new ones.

So what is the proposed solution?

𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲.

The proposal calls for billions more in operating and capital funding while specifically directing expansion toward “not-for-profit, public and Indigenous child care programs.”

It goes even further:

“federal funds—whether operational or capital—will not fund new or expanded for-profit child care.”

𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗰𝗮𝗻’𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲?

And let's be very clear about something:

𝗣𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗮𝘅𝗽𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀.

They are asking for 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦 to have access to the affordability funding they were promised when they choose a licensed childcare program.

That matters.

The original federal commitment was that “all families have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early learning and child care no matter where they live.”

So five years into this transformation, let's measure the policy against that promise.

𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗮 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲?

𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆?

𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆?

If the answer is no, why are we continuing to prescribe more of the same?

A $10-a-day space that a family cannot access does not solve their childcare problem.

𝗔𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲.

After five years, families deserve serious discussion about what isn't working and practical solutions focused on children, access, affordability, quality, flexibility and parental choice.

Read the CCPA proposal yourself:
https://t.co/4KUK5Wk73W
#10aDayChildCare #CWELCC #ChildCareCrisis #ChildCareAccess #ParentalChoice #CanadianFamilies #FundTheChild

[Association of Canadian Early Learning Programs @ACE_National_]

Check out this article: Fixing Canada’s Childcare Crisis: An Executive Q&A With Krystal Churcher - https://t.co/Yk8dHazxrU

[Association of Canadian Early Learning Programs @ACE_National_]

This new Fraser Institute report raises a question that goes far beyond charitable giving — and one we should be asking about childcare in Canada.

Since 1961, government social-benefit spending has grown from 4.8% of GDP to more than 9%. Over roughly the same period, the percentage of Canadian tax filers reporting charitable donations fell from 24.5% to 16.8%.

The report asks whether increasing government involvement can “crowd out” private and community responses. It doesn't claim these numbers prove causation — but it raises an important policy question.

What happens when government moves from funding a social good to increasingly deciding how, where and by whom it can be delivered?

That question matters in childcare.

ACE supports public investment that makes childcare affordable and accessible. But affordability does not require eliminating parental choice, discouraging private investment or favouring one ownership model over another.

Across Canada, licensed private and nonprofit childcare providers are required to meet provincial standards for health, safety and quality. Yet increasingly, public funding policy determines which providers can participate — and ultimately which choices remain available to families.

There is another way: Fund the child. Support the family. Regulate quality and safety. Let parents choose.

Public investment and parental choice do not have to compete.

Perhaps the question isn't whether government should help fund childcare.

It's whether government funding should determine who is allowed to provide it.
https://t.co/4qOpgdYOXM

#Childcare #CWELCC #ParentalChoice #AffordableChildcare #ChildcarePolicy #ACENational

[Association of Canadian Early Learning Programs @ACE_National_]

https://t.co/bGkOchdi3p
WHERE IS THE ACCOUNTABILITY FOR PUBLIC FUNDS?

$5.5 MILLION in provincial taxpayer funding.

More than $74,000 PER CHILDCARE SPACE.

A nonprofit childcare project.

And now? The facility is sitting derelict — damaged by flooding and reportedly being scavenged by thieves.

Meanwhile, governments continue to tell Canadians that the answer to our childcare crisis is simply to direct more public funding toward nonprofit expansion.

This is exactly why corporate structure should never be treated as a substitute for accountability.

Whether an operator is nonprofit or for-profit, if public money is being invested, there must be accountability for how that money is spent, whether projects are viable, whether spaces actually open and whether they remain available to families.

$5.5 million in public money deserves more than good intentions. It deserves oversight, transparency and results.

Families need childcare.

Taxpayers deserve accountability.

Where is it?

[Andrea Mrozek @mrozekandrea]

This story, sad as it is, is kind of an allegory for CWELCC. Falling apart, derelict, before it even started... https://t.co/xsf0XOyKih

[Association of Canadian Early Learning Programs @ACE_National_]

Are you a parent looking for affordable childcare, are you sitting on waitlists hoping for a space or are you not able to access the promised "$10-a-day" funding????

The future of childcare is being decided right now—and parents deserve a voice. If you’ve struggled to find affordable care or access CWELCC, please register, attend and have your say.
https://t.co/X53S7Jeg3q

[Association of Canadian Early Learning Programs @ACE_National_]

This is the reality of $10- a-day childcare policy, these are the emails in my inbox from Ontario operators.

61 childcare spaces. 19 years of serving families. And a funding system that makes saving those spaces almost impossible.

One of our Ontario ACE members has announced the heartbreaking closure of a long-standing childcare location in St. Catharines, Ontario.

There is demand. There are families. There are experienced educators. There is an operator willing to continue investing.

But the economics of relocating under the current CWELCC system simply don't work.

This operator received $177,000 to create 60 spaces. A not-for-profit operator received $2.45 million to create 49 spaces under the same type of agreement.

And this isn't happening in a vacuum.

The Canada-Ontario CWELCC agreement has explicitly prioritized not-for-profit expansion and set a target for at least 70% of Ontario's licensed spaces for children 0–5 to be not-for-profit.

This is what happens when childcare policy becomes driven by ownership ideology instead of families, quality and community need.

Ontario is negotiating the future of CWELCC right now.

Minister Paul Calandra — what is Ontario fighting for at that negotiating table?

Because this is the opportunity to fix it.

Fight for existing spaces before we lose them.

Fight for equitable access to expansion and capital funding.

Fight for experienced operators who are willing to invest their own money into Ontario communities.

Fight for parental choice.

And fight for a system where funding decisions are based on children, quality and community need — not the corporate structure written on a license.

We cannot keep announcing thousands of "new spaces" while established childcare programs disappear.

A $22-a-day space means nothing if the space doesn't exist.

Ontario has an opportunity in these negotiations to demand something better.

@PaulCalandra @PattyHajdu @Chris_Bittle @fordnation

[Association of Canadian Early Learning Programs @ACE_National_]

ACE is proud to recognize Childventures, an ACE member, on the opening of their newest 140-space CWELCC centre in Mississauga.

This is exactly the kind of investment that Ontario families need — new, high-quality child care spaces being created by a private operator in a high-need community.

CWELCC was designed to increase affordability and access. That means we need to recognize and support all of the licensed child care providers who can help make that happen.

Private operators are already an important part of Ontario’s child care system, and when they are supported to build and expand, they bring new spaces, investment, educators and choices to families. Ontario’s own CWELCC framework recognizes the role of both for-profit and not-for-profit providers in meeting the diverse child care needs of families.

140 new affordable spaces in a high-priority area is something worth celebrating.

This is what happens when we focus on the goal — getting more affordable, high-quality child care spaces to families who need them — rather than limiting who can provide them.

Congratulations to the entire Childventures team on this exciting milestone. We are proud to have you as an ACE member and proud to celebrate the important role private child care operators play in building Ontario’s child care system.

CWELCC works best when it supports all forms of licensed care to meet the needs of Ontario families.

👏 More spaces. More choice. More families served.

#ACE #Childventures #CWELCC #OntarioChildCare #PrivateChildCare #ChildCareSpaces #ParentChoice #DougFord #PaulCalandra #OntarioFamilies
@PaulCalandra @fordnation @PattyHajdu

[Cardus @cardusca]

How can a so-called universal child care program have a 30,000 child waiting list?

With Quebec's childcare program set to turn 30 next year, @EABeauregard dives into the structural flaws that prevent it from being universal and equitable. He says the time has come for Canada to adopt a more flexible approach, like in Finland where the state funds parents instead of centres. @CDNAffairs @meagangillmore

https://t.co/uYc8l2Qht4

[Association of Canadian Early Learning Programs @ACE_National_]

Join us for a national Parent Town Hall where families can ask questions, share experiences, and discuss practical solutions.
Register (September 24, online):
https://t.co/F8A6ws5tER

[Matthew Lau @matlau10]

Update on Canada's gov't takeover of child care:

Kelowna child care fees reportedly among highest in the country -- which is impossible! -- as BC is NDP-run and we were assured this program only failed where incompetent Conservatives were in charge

https://t.co/iUZdvJzG90

[Matthew Lau @matlau10]

Impossible, we were assured Trudeau's brilliant child care program failed only in provinces with Conservative premiers who were incompetent/ deliberately sabotaged it

https://t.co/Jwj3CluXML

[Matthew Lau @matlau10]

More on Canada's gov't takeover of childcare:

Childcare operators in Grey County are at the mercy of politicians 180km away at Queen's Park. Grey lost CWELCC spaces in 2025 due to "provincial recalibration" & operators stuck on a waitlist to expand.

https://t.co/TawIEKsguv

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

If you missed the solar eclipse, this is what it looked like:

[Matthew Lau @matlau10]

Update on Canada's government takeover of child care;

Guelph child care provider says CWELCC has significantly increased administrative burden, is "placing growing strain on quality," and is unravelling years of progress in the child care sector

https://t.co/U35T87KkOm

[Association of Canadian Early Learning Programs @ACE_National_]

ACE supports evidence-based policy.

This @CDHoweInstitute paper doesn't focus on child care specifically, but its message is timely: major public investments should include transparent evaluation and measurable outcomes.

As #CWELCC evolves, rigorous evaluation will help strengthen the system for families, educators, and providers.

🔗 https://t.co/uZbCIAtfu4
https://t.co/uZbCIAtfu4

[Association of Canadian Early Learning Programs @ACE_National_]

Great news for 77 families in Nova Scotia. But we have to ask about the math.... $4.5Million (tax payer funds) for 77 new spaces is over $58,000 per space.