A new report on the cost of child care in Canada says many daycare providers are in dire financial straits, as the pandemic exposed how overly reliant the system is on soaring parental fees.
The annual report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives finds that daycare costs continued to climb across most of the nation last year, with annual increases ranging between one per cent in places like Ottawa, Regina and Halifax, up to 21 per cent in Brampton, Ont.
Four cities surveyed showed overall small price declines: Vancouver, Moncton, Whitehorse and Yellowknife.
Few of the daycares surveyed said they increased fees due to COVID-19.
Many daycares across the country were forced to close during the first wave of the pandemic, causing disruptions in parents' working lives and a drop in their ranks in the workforce.
The report, however, found that once reopened, there was a drop in enrolment that in some cases was so severe that centres lost 20 to 30 children, winding up with fewer than five enrolled.