Islanders on licensed care waitlist nearly tripled in two-year period: study

A new study say P.E.I. has struggle to create enough affordable child-care spaces.

Prince Edward Island’s federally-funded child-care program appears to be facing some difficulties, according to a recent study.

The study by Ontario-based think-tank Cardus found the island’s licensed care waitlist nearly tripled between 2021 and 2023 to roughly 2,000 children.

The study also found the province created just 459 new licensed child-care spaces in the fiscal year beginning in April 2021 and ending in March 2023.

“As the provincial government artificially dropped the price of one type of child care, demand for it predictably shot up,” says Peter Jon Mitchell, family program director at Cardus. “No one should be surprised that the waiting list has ballooned as the province struggled to create new spaces despite hiring 12 bureaucrats to administer its program.”

Cardus’ study also revealed P.E.I. left 70 per cent of its federal funding unspent in year one of the program and 60 per cent unspent in year two.

Although the island did manage to reduce parent fees in the program’s first two years, Cardus says the province still fell short of its target of a $15-a-day average by December 2022.

Mitchell says the $10-a-day system has not lived up to its promise.

“We’re now into the final year of these agreements and so the provinces will be negotiating with the federal government,” he said. “I would want to see maximum flexibility for provinces to spend the funds the way that best fit their system. I would be in favour in seeing some, or even all funds, go to parents directly, and then they could take that dollar to the type of care that they see best.”

Improvements underway

Prince Edward Island’s Early Childhood Development Association acknowledges the child-care shortage but says Cardus’ study doesn’t fully represent the province’s system.

“There’s a lot of work happening … I think it could illustrate a little bit more of the positive things going on in our island for sure,” said Jennifer Nangreaves, director of the Early Childhood Development Association.

“We certainly feel for families that are needing to access that care immediately and what we can say is we are aware of the problem, and we’re working hard, many departments are working hard to meet that need.”

Jane Boyd is opening a new Montessori daycare in Summerside. She’s had a positive experience obtaining a licence through the province and says she’s excited to be able to offer families a unique option of child care.

“It’s a wonderful time to be an early childhood educator in P.E.I. There’s lots of opportunities, new spaces that are coming, and even though families are on waitlists, I know that a lot of folks are working really hard to try to create more spaces,” said Boyd.

Cassidy Combden and Samuel Sedaghat opened a large centre accommodating 60 children in the rural community of Bedeque. They say despite the report’s findings, they’ve had no trouble retaining qualified employees since opening in October 2024.

“We have been able to retain a staff that is almost entirely compromised of Level 3 educators, so early childhood educators,” said Combden and Sauel Sedaghat.

“We’re not having trouble. We almost have too many of them now coming to us and asking for work. We have a really good team, and we feel really lucky.”

Although many licensed centres across the island are full, Combden says they currently have space for more children at their daycare.

“We are full for infants, which of course is not surprising, but we do have some spots left for 22-month plus, up to five years of age … They’re filling up and we’re taking in kids almost everyday, but we can still help families in the area.”

The P.E.I. government says it recognizes the need for child-care services and will continue to grow the sector with more spaces and qualified staff.

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