CWELCC stands for the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care program. It is a government funding model introduced in 2022 as part of a national agreement between the federal government and the Province of Ontario.
The long-term goal of the program is to reduce childcare fees to an average of approximately $10 per day for families. To achieve this goal, the government provides funding directly to participating childcare centres to replace a portion of the tuition that parents would normally pay.
The program has evolved over time as the government gradually increased the level of fee reduction.
CWELCC Fee Reduction Timeline #
2022 – Initial Reduction
When the program was first introduced in 2022, childcare centres that joined CWELCC were required to reduce their fees by approximately 25%, with the government providing funding to compensate centres for the reduction.
2023 – Increased Fee Reduction
In 2023, the program expanded and the required fee reduction increased to approximately 52.75% compared to the original 2020 fee levels. The government funding replaced the portion of the tuition that parents no longer had to pay.
2024 – Stabilization and Wage Supports
By 2024, the program continued operating with similar fee reduction levels while introducing additional components such as Workforce Compensation (Wage Enhancement Grants / WEG) and operational funding support.
2025 and 2026 – Expense Reimbursement Model
Starting 2025, the program has evolved into an expense reimbursement model which is no longer paying the entire full tuition instead, it’s paying just the cost of what the centres are spending plus a fixed profit which is called surplus-in-lieu of 7.75% at the time of writing. This model has drastically fixed the amount of profit a centre can take.
Why This Matters for Operators #
Whether a childcare centre chooses to participate in CWELCC or operate outside of it is one of the most important strategic decisions an operator will make.
The decision affects:
- Tuition pricing
- Revenue structure
- Government reporting requirements
- Staffing compensation models
- Long-term business flexibility
Because the implications are significant, this topic will be explored in much greater detail in later sections.
