When Vera Belazelkoska toured a daycare centre in Ontario, she was told she had been added to the waitlist. She was number 1,028. She shared her story with The Brandon Gonez Show, and it captured something that thousands of Ontario parents recognize immediately: the daycare waitlist is not a minor inconvenience. For many families, it is a financial and logistical emergency.
Starting at Number 1,028
Belazelkoska began her search in December 2024, three months into her pregnancy. She applied to 24 different centres, including home daycares, nonprofit centres, and CWELCC-enrolled centres offering the $22 a day maximum rate. “My maternity leave came up last month, and we had zero spots. And of course I applied to daycares near our home, but also a little bit further off, so not just walking distance. I’m talking, like we were open to driving if needed, knowing that there is a shortage and that there is a high demand,” she said.
Her family eventually found a home daycare through word of mouth after over a year of searching. By then, she had passed the end of her employment insurance, which only covers up to 12 months. “So it does mean that now we were past the employment insurance phase, and now we’re just living off of, you know, at least on my side, living off of savings, because employment insurance is only up to 12 months,” she said. She is not alone. “I hear it all the time in different play dates in the park and swim class, when we’re with her. I hear from other parents that many of them have had to delay their return to work to 18 months, even though they were planning to take only a year,” she said.
The Spaces Exist. The Staff Do Not.
The Brandon Gonez Show also spoke with Amber Straker, Executive Director of the Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario (AECEO). Her explanation of the crisis cuts to the core of the problem. “Living here in Ontario, there are spaces that are actually available right now but are not in use because we don’t have the early childhood educators or the child care workers to actually bring those spaces alive and be able to have children learn and grow inside of them,” she said.
The minimum wage floor for a registered ECE in Ontario is $25.86 per hour, but Straker says most of the workforce is still being left behind. Educators are leaving the profession entirely. “What we are hearing from early childhood educators is that they’re leaving for work that is less stressful and less demanding and has higher wages, has health benefits, have pension plans,” she said. This means the waitlist problem and the vacancy problem are connected. The Auditor General of Ontario found that approximately 27 percent of licensed childcare spaces across the province sit vacant on any given day. Some of those empty spaces exist because centres cannot staff them. Others exist because families move, schedules change, and short-term openings appear without any efficient way to reach parents who need them.
What the CWELCC Extension Means for Families
The federal government agreed to a one-year extension of the CWELCC agreement until March 2027 and invested $5.4 billion into the program over two years. Ontario is one of only two provinces without a confirmed continuation of the program past that date. Straker is cautiously optimistic. “I do think that if that agreement does include some additional workforce compensation and support, and with some of the spaces being built for the educators to work in, I actually do see the wait list decreasing,” she said. But decreasing over time and finding care today are two different problems. For parents whose mat leave is ending now, the policy timeline is not the relevant timeline.
ChildSpot Is a New Option for Families Who Need Care Now
Belazelkoska found her spot through word of mouth, acting quickly on a connection made through her personal network. Most families do not have that kind of luck or timing. ChildSpot exists to make that kind of real-time discovery available to every Ontario parent, not just the ones who happen to know the right person at the right moment.
ChildSpot is a new app that shows real-time availability at licensed Ontario childcare centres. Operators post openings directly on ChildSpot as spots become available from schedule changes, family vacations, program transitions, and temporary absences. Parents search by date, location, and age group and see only centres with actual openings. Every centre listed holds an active licence with the Ontario Ministry of Education. CWELCC-enrolled centres offering the $22 a day maximum rate are clearly labelled so families can filter by subsidy status when searching. When a parent finds a spot that works, they book and pay securely through the app. No phone calls. No voicemails. Confirmed in minutes. ChildSpot does not replace the long-term waitlist. It is what to use when you need care now.
Vera Belazelkoska’s story will be familiar to too many Ontario parents. The system as it stands is not working for families who need childcare today. While governments work on the workforce and funding questions, the information gap between available spots and parents searching for them is a problem that can be addressed right now. ChildSpot is that solution.
Search available spots at licensed Ontario childcare centres at app.childspotapp.com or download the app on iOS. Free to search. Free to browse. Book a spot in minutes.
Source: The Brandon Gonez Show. (2026). “Ontario Parents Are Facing Extensively Long Wait Times for Daycare Enrollment as Staff Shortages Are on the Rise.” The Brandon Gonez Show. https://brandongonezshow.com/episode/ontario-parents-are-facing-extensively-long-wait-times-for-daycare-enrollment-as-staff-shortages-are-on-the-rise/
Additional reference: Auditor General of Ontario. (October 2025). Special Report: Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Program. Office of the Auditor General of Ontario.