Daycare dreams on hold: Funding runs dry for new N.S. child-care projects (original) (raw)

Nova Scotia

The Hants Shore Child Care association currently has 100 children on a waitlist for a daycare it has plans to build, but the project is in limbo because Nova Scotia has no money left to fund new child-care projects.

Province says it needs more money from Ottawa, talks are ongoing

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Plans for new daycare in West Hants on hold

The people behind the project say a child-care centre is definitely needed in the community. But as the CBC's Celina Aalders reports, the pool of government funding for a new daycare has run dry.

In the small, rural community of Upper Burlington, N.S., about 100 children are on the waitlist for a daycare that doesn’t exist yet.

The Hants Shore Childcare Association has plans to build a new 52-space daycare on a one-hectare parcel of land gifted by the West Hants municipality.

Lori Maxwell, chair of the non-profit, said they need roughly $1.8-million in funding from the provincial government to build and operate the centre.

But according to officials with the province’s Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, there’s no money for new daycare projects left to go around.

“We’ve got the land. We have contractors wanting to build this for us. We have the community support. We have absolutely demonstrated the need,” Maxwell said.

"It’s discouraging. We put a lot of hard work into this project and we are hoping that we find a pathway somehow.”

A woman with long brown hair stands behind a CBC microphone. She is wearing a white blazer and white blouse.

Pamela Bussey is executive director of early learning and child care for the provincial government. She's seen here speaking to reporters on May 19, 2026, following a daycare announcement. (CBC)

In January, Maxwell received a letter from the department that said “capital and operational funding for new child-care spaces has been fully allocated.”

Under the $605-million Nova Scotia Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care agreement with the federal government, the province has created 9,676 new subsidized daycare spaces since 2021.

Many of these spaces came from 88 infrastructure projects funded by money from the bilateral agreement. Some of the projects are still underway, with an additional 2,600 spaces still to come.

“We know there’s a lot of demand out there and we’d love to approve all space expansion projects that are helping to meet the needs of child care in Nova Scotia,” Pamela Bussey, the executive director of early learning and child care for the province, told reporters last month.

The province signed a five-year extension to its agreement with Ottawa until 2031 worth more than $1 billion. Bussey said all of that money has also been allocated for capital and operational funding.

“As a result of increasing inflation, food prices, wages, pension and benefits, it does cost a lot more to operate child care than it did a number of years ago,” she said.

“So while all of our funding has been allocated under our current Canada-wide agreement and our provincial funding, we know that there’s still more that needs to be done.”

Jocelyn Brison, vice-president of the Hants Shore Child Care Association, said the group has up to $30,000 in donations and grants for the project to help build a playground and community room.

But otherwise, the group said it needs the province’s endorsement before it can obtain loans or other streams of funding.

“Parents are very hopeful that this is going to be built and soon,” Brison said. “There really aren’t any other options in this area, they have to either travel a great distance or enroll in maybe situations that they’re not super comfortable with.”

She said many parents in the area have to rely on private dayhomes, which can be significantly more expensive.

“We want this to be something that is affordable for the community,” Brison said.

A woman with dirty blond hair and bangs poses for a portrait. She's wearing a black blazer and blue blouse.

Tracey Barbrick is the deputy minister of Education and Early Childhood Development. (Mark Crosby/CBC)

The province has previously said it needs additional money from Ottawa in order to create more daycare spaces and bring fees down to an average of $10 a day — a target it had committed to meet by March 2026.

At a public accounts committee meeting last week, deputy education minister Tracey Barbrick said negotiations with federal counterparts are ongoing.

“We have not gotten a final position from the federal government. They understand the challenges across the country and have been very integrated in those conversations,” Barbrick said.

A spokesperson for the federal Department of Employment and Social Development did not confirm to CBC News whether more funding for child care is on the table for Nova Scotia.

In the meantime, Maxwell and Brison continue to lobby their provincial and federal government representatives to make the case for their new centre.

“It’s not a want. It’s a basic necessity,” Maxwell said.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Celina Aalders is a TV, radio and digital reporter with CBC Nova Scotia. She holds a master's degree in journalism and communication. You can contact her with story ideas at celina.aalders@cbc.ca

With files from Taryn Grant