Another potential daycare is being stalled, and child-care providers are frustrated
Coady Hardy co-owns a daycare, and has been waiting months since applying to build another one
A St. John's daycare operator has his sights set on opening another location, but it might not happen anytime soon.
Coady Hardy opened the for-profit Little Stars daycare centre with his wife in September 2024. All of its 120 spaces are filled, with more families on the waitlist.
He says getting the funding, permits and approval to finish that project was a smooth process.
Hardy assumed it would be the same when he applied to develop a non-profit daycare with 100 spaces in the old Pipers store in the Kelligrews neighbourhood of Conception Bay South.
He and his wife have the space, and the plan, but things have been slow-moving so far.
"We thought this was going to be, you know, a no-brainer," Hardy told CBC News on Monday. "I don't know if there's a few hiccups on the Department of Education side… we've been just waiting."
According to emails and documents he forwarded to CBC, Hardy was in contact with an architect, a contractor and the Department of Education before applying for the Create a Space Incentive Grant in November 2024.
He's been emailing back and forth with the provincial department since then, and has been met with delays and minimal responses.
The application was "moved forward for signature" in February, according to an email from a director of regional operations.
Hardy asked Education Minister Bernard Davis for an update in May, and still hasn't heard back.
CBC News asked the minister for an interview, but he isn't answering questions.
Department of Education spokesperson Lynn Robinson sent an emailed statement.
"The department carefully evaluates each submission to ensure a thorough and fair assessment process. The process considers overall project timelines, commitments to other child care projects, and long-term viability of projects," the statement said, in part.
'Child care is critical'
Hardy is frustrated.
"The government is not waiting on us anymore. We're waiting on them. Like, we were ready to break ground in Kelligrews as soon as the frost was gone," said Hardy.
"We planned to open in October, and that is not gonna happen now."
He isn't the only one facing barriers.
The YWCA in St. John's is working on a child-care centre in a health-care facility, but its executive director says finding the finances to make that happen is difficult.
"The delays that we are experiencing is really to make the numbers work right," said Maria Gentle.
She said bureaucratic delays are natural, and she understands that the government takes time to ensure spaces are safe— but they should be speedy, too.
Gentle said it doesn't only benefit young children and their parents, but child care also supports immigration and women in the workforce.
"If the goal is for the province to build non-profit child care, the support really needs to be in place for non-profits to build," said Gentle.
On the other side of the island in St. George's, a group of child care providers are pushing the government to approve their applications for permits and grants to open a daycare of their own.
The province's 2025 budget included $3.9 million to create more child-care spaces.
Advocate Yolande Pottie-Sherman says it's not enough.
"What we're hearing on the ground is that for each group that's trying to...get a building [renovation], it's costing… around $700,000," she told CBC.
By those figures, the government money would only fully cover five projects.
Pottie-Sherman said that might be one reason why it's taking so long for some projects to get approved. At the same time, she thinks the government needs to step up and provide more money.
"Early learning and child care is critical to sustaining and making sure that Newfoundland and Labrador can thrive as a society," she said.
Pottie-Sherman describes the province as a child-care desert.
Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here. Click here to visit our landing page
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Heather Gillis and Colleen Connors