Bruce County staff is going ahead with the creation of 84 new child care spaces within the county.
The spaces are expected to be operational by the end of this year.
The new spaces are re-allotted by the province, after the Ontario government had cut the original number of allotted spaces under the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) program.
According to Bruce County Human Services Director Tina Metcalfe, the Ministry of Education had completed a province-wide recalibration of CWELCC spaces to better reflect realistic and achievable growth.
“In alignment with provincial expectations, Bruce County will proactively plan and expedite local processes to support the timely delivery of these revised targets, including prioritizing projects with a strong readiness to meet the year-end operational deadline. There is no financial impact to the municipal tax levy, and staff will continue to follow provincial requirements as we move forward,” shared Metcalfe during Thursday’s council meeting.
During discussions about the announcement, Councillor Jay Kirkland had asked if adding the 84 new spaces was achievable by the end of 2026, and to bring the total CWELCC spaces in the county to 1,736.
Children Services Manager Gillian Andrews explained, “The prioritization of the CWELCC expansion spaces will be rooted in shovel-ready projects, viable, ready-to-proceed by the end of the year. This approach aligns with our service system plan for equitable access, minimizing delays, and maximizing the likelihood of successful completion before the provincial deadline of end of 2026.”
In 2025, the provincial government had initially announced that it would provide 86,000 new child care spaces across Ontario in April, and initially allocated a total of 645 new spaces for Bruce County.
In June of last year, the Ministry of Education went back on its word, cutting funding for 133 of those spaces.
The Ministry’s recalibration is bringing back 84 of the 133 that were cut last year.