When most people think about child care, they frame it through a strictly personal lens. At best, it’s viewed as a necessary expenditure to keep a career going—a sunk cost that families must absorb on their own. And unless you have a young child, it’s an issue that rarely polls as a top priority.
I recently made a video about why we need immigration to build our workforce. But by that same logic, we should also be supporting families who want to have children, and affordable childcare is key. But what if childcare isn’t just a domestic expense, but actually one of the most powerful economic engines available to a modern society?
A report by the Center for Future Work titled “The Economic Benefits of Expanded Child Care Services in Ontario” tracks the implementation of the federal-provincial agreement for $10/day child care (known as the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) program). The findings reveal that child care is foundational infrastructure, acting as a massive financial flywheel for the entire economy.
A Flawed Rollout Still Delivers Huge Wins
To understand the program’s full economic impact, we must first acknowledge its rocky rollout. As the last province to sign the agreement in March 2022, Ontario has repeatedly struggled with execution. By late 2024, the province fell significantly short of its interim targets, creating only about 36,000 of the planned 48,000.
Meanwhile, fee reductions have stalled near $19/day, nearly double the program’s $10 target. Compounding these issues is an over-reliance on for-profit providers, which account for roughly 44% of new spaces for children under five. Because these centers operate under pressure to extract profit margins, they frequently suppress workforce wages, ultimately driving high staff turnover and persistent waitlists.
Yet, despite this chaotic execution, the sheer volume of capital injected into the system has triggered a massive macroeconomic ripple effect.
Transforming the Workforce
Because child care is labour-intensive, federal investments immediately boosted the workforce. Since 2019, Ontario added over 17,000 early learning and child care jobs, bringing total sector employment above 67,000 by early 2026. This growth came with major pay gains: nominal weekly earnings jumped 39% to $930—a 15% inflation-adjusted increase that nearly doubled the broader provincial average (7.8%).
Additionally, average weekly hours rose from 26 a decade ago to 31 today, shifting precarious part-time work into viable, full-time careers. This shift will push total sector compensation past $3 billion, effectively doubling aggregate earnings since 2019 and injecting spending directly into local businesses.
The most dramatic economic surge generated by accessible child care comes from parents—specifically mothers—re-entering the workforce. When high costs force a parent to stay home or downshift their career, the economy suffers a significant loss of human capital. Lowering those financial barriers radically shifts provincial labour dynamics: since 2019, the labour force participation rate for core-age women (ages 25–54) in Ontario expanded by two full percentage points, outstripping the national average and bringing 66,000 additional women into the workforce.
At the same time, the part-time employment rate for core-age women dropped by 1.2 percentage points as parents transitioned to full-time roles—adding the equivalent of another 15,000 full-time workers. Combined, this shift represents a massive influx of 81,500 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers into the Ontario economy relative to pre-pandemic baselines.
A $13.6 Billion GDP Boost
Aggregating direct sector spending, supply chain demand, and the output of 81,500 new full-time equivalent workers yields staggering results. Ontario’s expanded child care system generated a $13.6 billion boost to the province’s real GDP in 2024 alone.
Notably, Ontario captured 42% of the total national GDP gains from the CWELCC initiative, outpacing its 39% share of the Canadian population. Beyond raw growth, reduced child care costs reduced inflation by shaving 0.13 percentage points off the national Consumer Price Index (CPI) in 2023. Child care has historically been a major cost driver for families meaning this program provided immediate cost relief.
Child Care Pays for Itself
Perhaps the most surprising takeaway for policymakers is the net fiscal return on investment.
Ontario captures roughly 16.5% of provincial GDP as “own-source” tax revenue (income tax, sales tax, corporate tax). The $13.6 billion GDP expansion generated an estimated $2.25 billion in brand-new provincial tax revenue in 2024. This is over $2 billion of additional revenue to spend on healthcare, education, infrastructure and more. Because federal subsidies cover roughly half the cost of the program, Ontario’s net contribution to child care in 2024 was estimated at $2.0 billion to $2.2 billion.
The tax revenues generated by expanding the economy completely covered the province’s outlay for the program. This means that the program is fiscally neutral. Child care isn’t a drain on public treasuries; it pays for itself.
A New Framework for Public Infrastructure
We don’t expect highways, bridges, or power grids to turn an immediate direct profit. We fund them because they enable the rest of the economy to move.
The data makes it clear that early childhood education functions the exact same way. Expanding access to child care cools inflation, stabilizes household budgets, creates thousands of jobs, and unlocks billions in broader economic output. Brampton is one of the youngest cities in Canada. Access to affordable child care can help the city retain families and improve workforce attraction.
As Premier Ford is looking for ways to stimulate the economy, perhaps he should consider fully realizing the program and taking Ontario to $10/day while funding the building of new child care spaces. Nation building doesn’t have to be tanks and modular reactors. Sometimes, it looks like daycare.