Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC)

Overview

The Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) agreement between the Province of Ontario and the Government of Canada supports high-quality, affordable, accessible, and inclusive licensed child care for families in Ontario.

Funding under CWELCC is used to build and leverage the success of Ontario’s existing early learning and child care system by increasing quality, accessibility, affordability, and inclusivity in early learning and child care, towards achieving the objectives of:

  • Reaching an average parent fee of $10 a day by 2025-2026 for licensed child care spaces.
  • Creating 86,000 new high quality, affordable licensed child care spaces (relative to 2019 levels), predominantly through non-profit licensed child care.
  • Addressing barriers to provide inclusive child care.
  • Valuing the early childhood workforce and providing them with training and development opportunities.

Parent fees were first reduced by 25% in April 2022, and by 50% in December 2022. As of January 2025, a $22 base free cap was introduced for children under the age of six enrolled in a CWELCC programme. CWELCC now uses a cost-based funding approach, providing financial support to providers based on actual operating costs.

Enrolment in the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care System

CWELCC provides the funding to licensed child care providers to reduce the child care fees paid by families. 

CWELCC also offers support for workforce development, professional learning opportunities, and expansion of child care spaces to improve accessibility and affordability.

As the Service System Manager, Wellington County Children’s Early Years Division was provided a maximum allocation for the number of licensed child care spaces that may be enrolled in the CWELCC system and is responsible for ensuring that new licensed programmes and/or new spaces for existing programmes created under the CWELCC system are consistent with the Directed Growth Plan. 

The Directed Growth Plan is an addendum to Wellington’s Child Care and Early Years Service Plan (2023–2027), developed in alignment with Ontario’s Access and Inclusion Framework to enhance equitable access to licensed child care. It outlines current child care coverage and population data across Wellington-Guelph and supports the Ministry of Education’s targets for expanding affordable licensed child care spaces. 

The total number of child care spaces and access rates in Wellington-Guelph by age group and municipality are presented on the Data and Planning page: Data in the Early Years – Licensed Child Care Availability.

The County is currently accepting applications for CWELCC enrolment for licensed child care spaces serving children ages 0-4. Applicants must demonstrate that spaces will be operational by December 31, 2026. 

Application Deadline: March 5, 2026

A limited number of spaces are now available through the County’s space allocation process. To ensure alignment with local child care needs and Ministry direction, the following applications will be prioritized in the County’s review process:

  • Child care centres in geographic regions with low access rates (based on the Directed Growth Plan)
  • Child care centres that support the needs of priority populations.
  • Child care centres with existing non-CWELCC spaces or centres that can be licensed for additional spaces with only minor operational adjustments.
  • Not-for-profit child care centres

Requesting Enrolment in CWELCC as a Not-for-Profit Child Care Provider

  1. Complete an Expression of Interest Form (all applicants).
  2. Complete a Directed Growth application (applicants not currently enrolled in CWELCC).
  3. Complete the Declaration of Not-for-Profit Compliance and review the Requirements for New Not-for-Profit Child Care Corporations. This document provides information for new Not-for-Profit child care corporations on building a not-for-profit board of directors, key tasks for new board of directors, the conflict of interest policy, and funding requirements.

Requesting Enrolment in CWELCC as a For-Profit Child Care Provider: 

  1. Complete an Expression of Interest Form (all applicants).
  2. Complete a Directed Growth application (applicants not currently enrolled in CWELCC).

The County will maintain all applications received in the event further CWELCC allocation becomes available.

Expression of Interest Forms, Directed Growth Applications, and Declarations of Compliance should be submitted to the Children's Early Years Division by March 5, 2026. 

CWELCC Funding for the Development of New Child Care Spaces

In 2026, no CWELCC funding will be available to support the creation or expansion of new child care spaces that plan to participate in the CWELCC program.

Prior to 2026, two funding streams had been available to support such development: Start-up Grants and the Infrastructure Fund.

Wellington's CWELCC Resources

The Guidelines for Preparing and Effective Business Plan and Operating Budget Worksheet are intended as supports in planning for the opening of your child care business.

Other Resources

Who to Contact:

Children’s Early Years
Email