PEIHundreds of P.E.I. parents can’t find child-care spaces, especially for infants. The provincial government says expanding those spots remains a top priority — and it recognizes the concern.More than 1,400 waiting for infant care on the provincial child care registryThinh Nguyen · CBC News · Posted: Dec 05, 2025 3:02 PM EST | Last Updated: 2 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Recent data from the Department of Education and Early Years shows the provincial child care registry has about 1,800 names on its list, with close to 800 families in urgent need of an infant spot. (Laura Meader/CBC)Hundreds of P.E.I. parents can’t find child-care spaces, especially for infants. The provincial government says expanding those spots remains a top priority — and it recognizes the concern.The provincial child care registry has about 1,800 names on its list, according to recent data from the Department of Education and Early Years.More than 1,400 are waiting for infant care, with close to 800 families needing an infant spot immediately.At the BGC Prince County Kensington Club Junior, director Patti Gallant sees that demand every day.The centre opened at the end of May after BGC purchased the building with support from a provincial low-interest loan program. It employs 14 staff and currently serves 45 children, including six infants. ‘I feel terrible that we are full,’ says BGC Prince County Kensington Club Junior director Patti Gallant, who says she gets calls from panicked parents who need a spot for their child. (Laura Meader/CBC)Gallant said the centre reached capacity in August and currently has a waitlist of about 150 children — most of them babies.“I do get quite a few calls. A lot of the calls [are] parents looking for spaces. They’re in a panic because they’re required to be back to work and… they can’t find spaces for their children,” Gallant told CBC News.“There is a need there for infant spaces. I feel terrible that we are full and we don’t see any movement till probably next September.”Education and Early Years Minister Robin Croucher said the province knows the infant waitlist is a major concern.“A big part of our focus moving forward as a government and as a department is to start addressing that need for that infant space,” Croucher said.Sector has grown by about 1,000 spotsCroucher said several factors have contributed to the long waitlist, including “record population growth” and the $10-a-day child-care program introduced in recent years.“Certainly, it’s more enticing for families now to seek out child care,” he said.To meet demand, the province has introduced grant programs to support the expansion of early years centres and, two years ago, launched a low-interest loan initiative for new construction or expansion of early years centres.“There’s been a lot of interest and uptake in them,” he said. “We’ve been able to grow our sector by, you know, 1,000 spots roughly… so quite happy with how those programs have really been successful in building our system and our capacity.”Minister of Education and Early Years Robin Croucher says he understands the ‘concerns of families, and the anxiety and the worry,’ and that his department is working on expanding child-care spaces. (Zoom)The department said since 2023, those incentives have helped create 653 new child-care spaces across P.E.I., including 195 infant spots.Another 353 spaces are currently in development, with 78 of those designated for infants. Croucher said those infant spaces should come online in the coming months.He said that while the waitlist remains large, efforts to create more spaces have helped keep it from growing.“Although our wait list is a little bit static right now and we haven’t seen those big reductions that I want to see, we haven’t seen it grow either. So that is a testament to the work that’s been done,” he said.The next step, Croucher said, is a province-wide child-care needs survey, which is underway now.It includes input from families, operators and others in the sector, and is expected to be completed by the end of the year. He said the s urvey will help government better understand where demand is highest and guide future decisions.With files from Laura Meader
Hundreds of P.E.I. families seeking infant child care as province works to expand spaces
