ManitobaManitoba is nowhere near hitting its affordable child-care goals, as the province works to bridge the largest gap in the country between the number of child-care spaces it promised and those it created, a new report says.Over half of Manitoba children live in ‘child-care desert,’ says Canadian Centre for Policy AlternativesLauren Scott · CBC News · Posted: Aug 21, 2025 8:29 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours agoThe Manitoba government promised to create 23,000 new affordable child-care spaces by the end of the 2025-26 fiscal year. It has created just over 3,400, according to a report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. (Chelsea Kemp/CBC)Manitoba is nowhere near hitting its affordable child-care goals, as the province works to bridge the largest gap in the country between the number of child-care spaces it promised and those it created, a new report says.Manitoba vowed to create 23,000 new $10 per day openings for children under the age of seven at non-profit child-care centres across the province under a five-year, $1.2-billion agreement signed with the federal government in 2021.With one year left in the initial agreement, Manitoba had created 3,408 spaces as of the first quarter of this year — less than 15 per cent of the spaces it promised, according to a report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives published Thursday. Report author David Macdonald, a senior economist with the think-tank in Ottawa, said the province is “nowhere near hitting its goal.” “Manitoba is certainly a laggard when it comes to space creation,” he said.David Macdonald, a senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, says Manitoba is ‘nowhere near hitting its goal’ of 23,000 new child-care spaces. (www.policyalternatives.ca)The research institute used a database that tracks 1.3 million licensed child-care spaces across Canada, including ones in homes, non-profit centres and for-profit businesses. The report focuses on preschool-age children who require full-day child care. It did not include school-age children who use before/after-school programs, as they are not covered by the federal program. The province’s own figures count children seven and under, and say 4,300 spaces had been created as of February. While higher than the CCPA’s number, that’s still less than one-fifth of the new spaces promised. Macdonald said Manitoba’s sluggish expansion is due, in part, to its own “ambitious” goal to double affordable child-care spaces.”I’m all for bold ambition when it comes to child-care space creation. The trouble here is that the province hasn’t followed through in terms of creating those spaces,” Macdonald said. Half of Manitoba kids in ‘child-care desert’Neighbouring Saskatchewan is also unlikely to meet its target of nearly tripling $10 per day child-care spaces, according to the policy centre’s report. With 5,648 new spots, that province is only about 20 per cent of the way to its goal of 28,100.According to the report, 52 per cent of Saskatchewan children live in a “child-care desert” — areas where there are fewer than three child-care spaces for every 10 children. That’s the highest proportion of any Canadian province. Manitoba is close behind, with 51 per cent of children living in a child-care desert, according to the report. Only about one in 20 kids in the province live in areas that meet or exceed the federal government’s target of 5.9 spaces for every 10 children. About 51 per cent of children in Manitoba live in a ‘child-care desert,’ according to the CCPA’s report. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)”We continue to see a very high prevalence of child-care deserts, not only in big cities like Winnipeg or Brandon, but also in smaller towns in rural areas,” Macdonald said. “Manitobans are not going to be able to easily find affordable child care near their houses. In most cases, they’re going to have almost no child care nearby,” he said. In most provinces, the majority of child-care spaces created through child-care agreements with the federal government were at for-profit centres, the report said. Manitoba is an outlier, with almost all new spaces created in the non-profit sector and meeting the $10 per day affordability goal — something that can’t be said in other Canadian jurisdictions, Macdonald said. Manitoba extended its agreement with the federal government earlier this year, signing on for an additional $1.9 billion to continue expanding affordable child-care in the province over the next five years. Minister of Education and Early Childhood Learning Tracy Schmidt said in a statement Thursday the province has created thousands of new spaces for children under six. “Every family in Manitoba deserves access to affordable, high-quality child care,” Schmidt’s statement said.Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Tracy Schmidt says the province has created thousands of new spaces for children under six. (Adam Yadaoui/CBC)She said the provincial government is working to expand child-care access by partnering with schools, post-secondary institutions, municipalities and Indigenous governments. While the province is far from meeting its targets, Macdonald said Manitoba can catch up by abandoning its “application-based approach” and focusing on child-care deserts, while seeking out non-profit organizations that can help meet local families’ needs. “Simply sitting on your hands and waiting for the applications to roll in really hasn’t been a recipe for success in places like Manitoba,” he said. “I think it’s time for the province to take the bull by the horns.”CBC News reached out to the federal government but did not receive a response before publication. The Manitoba Child Care Association declined an interview.ABOUT THE AUTHORLauren Scott is a Winnipeg-based reporter with CBC Manitoba. They hold a master’s degree in computational and data journalism, and have previously worked for the Hamilton Spectator and The Canadian Press.
Manitoba ‘nowhere near’ reaching goal of 23,000 new affordable child-care spaces: report
