Nova Scotia banning daycare waitlist fees

Provincially licensed and funded child-care centres in Nova Scotia will no longer be able to charge wait-list fees starting this spring.

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development announced the ban Thursday morning, which will come into effect April 1.

"It was really important that we take this step to ensure that these operator practices were in alignment with the principles of the Canada wide child-care agreement, particularly in relation to affordability," Education Minister Becky Druhan told reporters following a cabinet meeting.

Some daycares have been asking families to pay hundreds of dollars without any guarantee of actually providing a child-care spot.

After some families spoke out against the fees last year, Druhan said her department would review the practice and look for ways to eliminate it.

Last month, deputy minister of Education Elwin Leroux said several options were available, including legislation, but ultimately that's not the route the province took.

The fees will be banned under the 2024-25 child-care operator funding agreements.

Druhan said it's the "fastest and most accessible way to make this change."

But NDP Leader Claudia Chender had misgivings about using the annual funding agreement to issue the ban.

"We want to see permanent action on this," Chender said.

"The minister has been very non-committal, so we were very glad to see her come out today and say that they are banned, but we need more action on that."

Chender added that a centralized waitlist managed by the province would go a step further in helping families in need of child care.

"The reason waitlist fees are such a problem is because parents have to be on so many waitlists, and many times they still don't get a spot."

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said eliminating waitlist fees "will certainly help" families, but he pointed to other issues with child care as the real root of the problem.

"We have these waitlists because they [the government] have not executed on creating more spaces," Churchill said.

Officials said last month they are on track to create 9,500 new daycare spaces in the next two years.

The updated funding agreements for daycare operators will also include a one-time grant for operators to offset rising costs totalling $9.7 million.

The agreements also include additional funding for staff wage increases, group benefits, pension plans and mandatory property insurance.

Druhan said a "patchwork" of grants to support daycare operators are needed while the province develops a new funding model, which she said would be ready to roll out before the end of the province's child-care agreement with Ottawa in March 2026.