Searching for daycare is an ordeal, but economists say don’t blame the market
Free market forces have given Canadians the ability to summon meals or cars at the touch of a button and demand a million dollars for an urban bungalow; but, as frustrated parents know all too well, the same forces haven’t solved the problem of finding childcare.
The Canadian daycare market has a well-established surplus of demand, resulting in anxiety-inducing waitlists — joined as early as the day a couple learns they’re expecting — and monthly fees that can amount to more than a mortgage payment.
“It’s worse than finding a house or looking for an apartment, it’s just insanity,” said Anjali Lowe, a civil servant in Ottawa.
Lowe started to worry after nine months of silence from the dozen daycares where she applied through the city’s centralized waitlist system.