The Northwest Territories auditor general has just reported on the territory’s child-care program, and the findings will sound familiar to anyone following the national rollout. The department responsible, the report concludes, did not fulfill its key responsibilities to families. It did not collect the information it needed. It did not check whether its efforts were working. It could not say whether quality had improved. Four regions of the territory account for 43 per cent of the children who might need care, yet they received only 9 per cent of the new licensed spaces. Payments to operators were based on outdated and unverified attendance records. Safety inspections were found to be unreliable, and high-risk problems that put children at risk were not consistently caught.
As Matthew Lau notes for the Fraser Institute, this is not an isolated case. In October 2025, the federal auditor general found that the national $10-a-day system was creating fewer spaces than targeted, that the spaces may not be reaching vulnerable families, and that Ottawa did not collect enough information to judge whether provincial plans would deliver. The same month, Ontario’s auditor general found the province missing its space targets despite receiving more than $10 billion over five years. Worse, enrolment among lower-income families on the fee subsidy had fallen 31 per cent compared with 2019. B.C.’s auditor general found ministries that had not worked together to deliver what was promised. Manitoba’s found a province likely to miss its target and without basic data on demand, waitlists or closures.
The Ontario finding is the one that should give everyone pause. The whole point of the program was to make child care accessible, especially for families who could least afford it. By cutting fees without creating enough spaces, governments drove up demand for a fixed number of spots. The families best placed to win that race are not the ones on subsidies. A program sold as a leveller has, at least in Ontario, made it harder for low-income parents to get in.
Parents who do have a space are paying much less than they used to, and that is a real benefit. But Ottawa committed close to $30 billion over five years, and the provinces have added their own money on top. For that, taxpayers are entitled to programs that know where the need is, whether the money is reaching it and whether the centres are safe. Auditor after auditor has found governments that cannot answer those basic questions. Before anyone talks about expanding the system, someone should be able to show that the version already running works.
