How to Get a Daycare Spot in Ontario and Alberta

Get on the lists early, during pregnancy if your area allows it. Apply to every licensed program you would really use, and keep each application active until an offer comes. Then widen your chances: be flexible about your start date, look at new programs and licensed home child care, and apply early for fee subsidy. Lists are long in many places: CP24 reported on September 15, 2026 that about 15,000 children were waiting for a space in Waterloo Region and about 8,500 were on Ottawa’s central waitlist.

When should I put my baby on a daycare waitlist?

As early as your area allows, often during pregnancy. Ottawa’s Child Care Registry and Waitlist lets you enter your due date and mark it as a due date. In Toronto, you can apply for fee subsidy as soon as you know you’re expecting, and that one application can also put you on the waitlists of the City-run (TELCCS) programs you choose. Elsewhere, ask your registry or the programs you want whether they take applications before the baby is born.

Waits can be long: a May 2026 guide for military families from Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services (CFMWS) says licensed centres in Ottawa typically mean a wait of about two years.

Then work out when you’ll need care. For most families, that depends on the Employment Insurance parental benefits you choose. As of November 2026, for a birth parent:

Parents who share parental benefits get a few more weeks between them (up to 40 standard or 69 extended weeks). Check the current weekly maximum on canada.ca.

The start age matters because infant rooms are small and need the most staff. Under Ontario’s child care regulation, infants (under 18 months) are in groups of at most 10, with 3 staff for every 10. Toddlers (18 to 30 months) are in groups of up to 15, with 1 staff for every 5. Starting at 18 months or later puts your child in Ontario’s toddler group. But 15 weeks of maternity plus 61 weeks of extended parental benefits add up to 76 weeks, about 17½ months, so check your child’s exact age on the start date you ask for. Alberta counts a child as an infant until 19 months, so an 18-month start doesn’t change the age group there.

A simple timeline:

• During pregnancy: join your central registry or start your centre-by-centre applications.
• About six months before your start date: check when your area takes fee subsidy applications (see below).
• The spring before a September start: ask your top choices about September openings.

How do daycare waitlists work where I live?

It depends on your city or region, not only your province. As of November 2026:

Elsewhere in Ontario, check the child care page of your municipality or district services board. Even with a central list, each program keeps its own waitlist policy.

Ontario’s rules protect you. Under section 75.1 of Ontario’s child care regulation, a licensed child care centre or home child care agency may not charge a fee or deposit to put your child on a waiting list. A program with a waiting list must have a written policy explaining how it decides the order of offers, and must let families find out their child’s position. Ask for that policy. If a program asks for a waitlist fee, you can report a concern to the province (1-877-510-5333).

At programs in the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system, the capped daily fee for children under six includes anything the program requires you to buy from it. Only optional extras, such as field trips, and penalties, such as late pick-up fees, can be charged on top.

In Alberta, ask before you pay anything to join a list: what the fee is for, whether it’s refundable, and whether the program gets the province’s affordability funding. Funded daycares and family day homes charge a flat monthly parent fee. On top of it, they can charge for optional services that families choose to opt into, and daycares can charge penalty fees such as late pick-up. They can’t offer preferential access based on ability to pay, and the province’s 2026–27 Affordability Grant funding guide says they can’t charge parents fees for administration, operations, equipment or other overhead. Childcare Connect answers questions about providers’ optional services and fees.

How many daycare waitlists should I join?

There is no official number. Aim to be on every list you would say yes to.

• With a central registry, select and rank every program that works for you. In Ottawa, if you accept a space at a lower-ranked choice, you stay on the waitlist for the ones you ranked higher, so you can take a good offer without giving up a better one.
• Centre by centre (Toronto and Alberta), cast a wide net: near home, near work and along your commute. Add home child care or family day home agencies too.

How do I keep my place on the lists?

• Log in on time. Ottawa asks parents to log in to the registry every 60 days. Miss it and you get a reminder at 90 days and a final notice at 120 days, then 72 hours to log in before your applications stop being active. The Wellington-Guelph waitlist sends notifications every 60 days, and applications become inactive after 120 days without a log-in.
• Answer offers fast. Ask each registry or program how long you’ll have to reply, and make sure their emails can’t land in spam.
• Be flexible. Ottawa’s application lets you say you’ll accept a space before your preferred start date. A wider window means more openings.
• Check in every few months with programs you applied to directly, and ask your child’s position.
• Ask how the order works. Ottawa’s application asks whether a sibling is already enrolled at the program, so ask each program whether its waitlist policy gives siblings priority. Ask what happens if you turn down an offer, since rules vary.

Why is September often a good time to get a daycare spot?

In Ontario, kindergarten is a free two-year school program for four- and five-year-olds, so many four-year-olds start school each September. When an older group moves on, centres can move younger children up, which frees spaces in the younger rooms. If your leave ends in winter or spring, ask whether a September start is possible.

In Alberta, the flat parent fee covers children up to kindergarten age, including kindergarten children who attend child care during school hours, but not children in full-time kindergarten. So spaces may open at different times. Ask each centre when its oldest group usually moves on.

Are new daycares easier to get into?

Sometimes: a brand-new program may not have a long list yet. New spaces are still opening. Ontario reported about 60,000 net new spaces as of June 2026, toward its goal of 86,000, and Alberta reported 57,699 as of April 2026, toward up to 68,700 by March 2027. Find new programs with Ontario’s child care finder or Alberta’s Childcare Search, then check the fees before you join a list:

• Ontario: only programs enrolled in CWELCC charge the reduced fees, and each program must say in its parent handbook whether it is enrolled. Since January 1, 2025, fee subsidy can’t be used for children under six at programs that aren’t enrolled (unless the subsidy agreement already existed on December 31, 2024).
• Alberta: as of November 2026, new for-profit and non-profit licensing applicants are not eligible for affordability funding, and the province doesn’t expect to change this before March 31, 2027. The main exception is a program opening under a Space Creation Grant or Building Blocks Grant agreement. Without affordability funding, a program doesn’t charge the flat parent fee.

What about home child care or a family day home?

Ontario: licensed home child care. Providers care for children in their own homes under contract with a licensed agency, whose home visitors check each home before children are enrolled and inspect it routinely. A provider can care for up to six children under 13, no more than three under age two, counting the provider’s own children under four. Agencies can be enrolled in CWELCC, so the same capped fees can apply: Toronto lists its home child care agencies and which ones take part. The Region of Waterloo’s own home child care program contacts families when they are within three months of their start date, instead of using a centre-style waitlist.

Alberta: family day homes. An educator can care for up to six children in their home, not counting their own, under contract with a licensed family day home agency, so you contact the agency, not the home. Alberta publishes a list of licensed agencies. A family day home with affordability funding charges the same flat parent fee as a funded daycare.

A home spot doesn’t have to end your search: ask whether accepting it changes your other applications.

Can fee subsidy help me get a spot?

Not directly: Waterloo Region says plainly that its subsidy program can’t help you find a space. But apply early, because subsidy can have its own wait or its own steps.

Ontario. As of November 2026, CWELCC fees are capped at $22 a day for children under six, with a provincial average of $19, and the reduction is automatic. In September 2026, Canada and Ontario extended their agreement to March 31, 2031, and CP24 reported that Ontario has committed to keep fees at that level until June 30, 2027. Nothing has been announced for after that; see Ontario’s $10-a-day child care. Income-tested fee subsidy comes through your local service system manager:

• Toronto: subsidy has a waitlist, so apply as soon as possible, online or at 416-338-8888, then tell the programs you want that you’re on it. Each parent generally needs to be working or in school, or a parent or child needs to have an extra support need.
• Ottawa: you must secure a space at a CWELCC program before you can be assessed for fee subsidy.
• Waterloo Region: apply up to six months (26 weeks) before care starts, and upload your documents within 30 days.

Alberta. Since April 1, 2025, children up to kindergarten age at daycares and family day homes with affordability funding pay a flat parent fee of $326.25 a month for full-time care (100 or more hours a month) or $230 for part-time care (50 to 99 hours), whatever the family’s income. The income-tested Child Care Subsidy Program is for children in full-time kindergarten to Grade 6 in licensed care outside school hours. As of November 2026, the flat fee is funded under a one-year extension of the Canada–Alberta agreements, signed in December 2025, that runs to March 31, 2027. Fees after that haven’t been announced; see Alberta child care fees.

What can we do while we wait?

• Ontario: EarlyON. EarlyON Child and Family Centres run free programs for children from birth to six with their parents or caregivers, at more than 750 centres and about 450 other locations. See What Is EarlyON?
• Alberta: Family Resource Networks. Family Resource Networks offer free services to all Albertans, including programs that help infants and children grow and develop.

Neither is child care (you stay with your child), but both fill the wait with play, advice and company.

Where can I see licensed daycares near me?

childcaring.ca lists about 5,450 licensed child care centres in Ontario and about 2,450 licensed programs in Alberta, taken from the provinces’ licensing data (an early-2025 snapshot). Browse by city, such as Toronto, Ottawa, Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, Calgary and Edmonton, or see all our city pages on the Ontario Child Care and Alberta Child Care pages.

Recently licensed programs may not be listed here yet, and a listed program may have closed, so check its current licence on Ontario’s child care finder or Alberta’s Childcare Search before you apply.

Sources

• CP24 (Canadian Press), Four years into $10/day program, child-care waitlists growing in some Ontario cities (September 15, 2026): about 15,000 children waiting in Waterloo Region; about 8,500 on Ottawa’s central waitlist.
• CP24 (Canadian Press), Affordable child-care program extended in Ontario, but not to $10 a day (September 29, 2026): Ontario’s commitment to keep fees at the current level until June 30, 2027.
• Government of Canada, Canada and Ontario agree to four-year extension of the Canada–Ontario Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement (September 2026): extension to March 31, 2031.
• Government of Canada, EI maternity and parental benefits: up to 15 weeks of maternity benefits at 55%; up to 35 weeks of standard parental benefits at 55% or up to 61 weeks of extended parental benefits at 33% for one parent (40 or 69 weeks when shared), each up to a weekly maximum.
• City of Ottawa, Apply for child care: Child Care Registry and Waitlist; due date option; ranking and staying on higher-ranked lists; start-earlier and sibling options; 60-, 90- and 120-day log-in schedule and 72 hours to log in.
• City of Ottawa, Child care fee subsidy: secure a space at a CWELCC program before subsidy assessment.
• CFMWS, Childcare in Ottawa (May 2026): licensed centres typically involve a wait of about two years.
• Region of Waterloo, Find Quality Child Care and Early Learning, Help Paying for Child Care and Region of Waterloo Home Child Care: OneList for centre-based and home-based care; school-board programs separate; subsidy can’t find you a space; apply 26 weeks ahead; documents within 30 days; home child care contacts families within three months of their start date.
• County of Wellington, Child Care Locations & Waitlist and enrolment policy for the County’s directly operated centres: the Wellington-Guelph Child Care Application and Waitlist, used by most licensed programs; ranking by priority; lower-ranked and unranked applications removed once a child is placed; notifications every 60 days; inactive after 120 days without a log-in.
• City of Toronto, Apply for a Child Care Fee Subsidy, TELCCS – Waitlist Registration, Find Child Care Near You and Licensed Home Child Care: subsidy waitlist; applying once expecting; 416-338-8888; eligibility; phone and visit each program; one application for subsidy and TELCCS waitlists; agencies’ CWELCC participation.
• Government of Ontario, O. Reg. 137/15 under the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014: no fee or deposit for a waiting list, written waitlist policy and finding out your child’s position (s. 75.1); what the capped base fee includes (s. 1 and s. 77.2); age groups, ratios and group sizes (Schedule 1).
• Government of Ontario, Canada-Ontario early learning and child care agreement: $22 cap and $19 average since January 1, 2025; automatic reduction; enrolment shown in the parent handbook; subsidy rule since January 1, 2025; about 60,000 of 86,000 net new spaces as of June 2026; home child care agencies can enrol.
• Government of Ontario, Number of children allowed in home and unlicensed child care programs and Types of child care: home child care limits; home visitors check and inspect homes.
• Government of Ontario, Financial support for child care, Find and pay for child care, Find licensed child care, Make a child care complaint, Kindergarten and Find an EarlyON child and family centre: subsidy through the local service manager; the provincial licensed child care finder; the complaint line; kindergarten for four- and five-year-olds; EarlyON programs and locations.
• Government of Alberta, Find childcare, Understand Alberta’s childcare system and Licensed Family Day Home Agencies (PDF, July 2024): Childcare Search; Childcare Connect; family day home educators care for up to six children under contract with a licensed agency; the list of agencies.
• Government of Alberta, Childcare fees, Affordability Grant and Child Care Subsidy Program: the $326.25 and $230 flat parent fees and who qualifies; optional fees and no preferential access based on ability to pay; new licensing applicants not eligible for affordability funding, with no change expected before March 31, 2027; subsidy for full-time kindergarten to Grade 6.
• Government of Alberta, Alberta Child Care Affordability Grant Funding Guide, 2026/27 (PDF, June 2026): funded programs can’t charge parents fees for administration, operations, equipment or other overhead; daycares may charge penalty fees such as late pick-up.
• Government of Alberta, Federal-provincial childcare agreement and Government of Canada, Canada and Alberta agree to one-year extension of early learning and child care agreements (December 2025): one-year extension to March 31, 2027; 57,699 net new spaces as of April 2026 toward up to 68,700 by March 2027.
• Government of Alberta, Child care licensing handbook: facility-based programs (April 2025): an infant is a child under 19 months.
• Government of Alberta, Family Resource Networks: free services to all Albertans, including infant and child development programs.

Last checked: November 11, 2026.