Ontario’s $10-a-day child care system is one of the most important social policy advances in a generation. It is making life more affordable for families and helping to stabilize a sector that was underfunded and undervalued for decades.

But a recent decision of Ontario’s Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal in Glen Hill Terrace Christian Homes Inc. highlights an important reality that governments can no longer ignore if child care expansion is to succeed.

Pay equity is not a one-time adjustment. It is an ongoing legal obligation. The Tribunal’s decision reinforces that principle and highlights its implications for Ontario’s child care sector.

The Workforce Reality

Child care is a highly skilled, predominantly female workforce that has historically been underpaid.

Even with recent improvements under the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system:

• The wage floor for Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECEs) reached $25.86 per hour in January 2026.
• More than 24.8% of RECE program staff earn less than $25 per hour.
• More than 76% earn less than $30 per hour.

By contrast, municipal comparators commonly used in pay equity analysis earn substantially more:

• City of Toronto RECEs: approximately $35–$38 per hour.
• Durham Region RECEs: up to $45 per hour.

These are not abstract comparisons. They are precisely the types of benchmarks that pay equity legislation requires employers to consider.

What the Tribunal Confirmed

The case involved a long-term care employer’s obligation to maintain pay equity after an original pay equity plan had been established and whether employers could continue relying on Ontario’s proxy comparison methodology to meet those obligations.

The Tribunal clarified that employers must continuously assess and maintain pay equity, even after it has been achieved.

While it allowed flexibility in how maintenance may be carried out—through proxy, job-to-job, or proportional value comparisons—it did not change the fundamental requirement:

Equal pay for work of equal value must be maintained over time.

In practical terms:

• Wage gaps cannot be ignored once identified.
• Comparisons to higher-paid sectors remain relevant.
• Wage adjustments may be required as labour market conditions evolve.

For child care centres without male comparators, proxy pay equity remains particularly important. The Tribunal confirmed that Regulation 396 under Ontario’s Pay Equity Act continues to provide a valid framework for maintaining pay equity in establishments that rely on proxy comparison plans.

A Structural Gap—Not a Policy Failure

This creates a challenge, but not a reason to question the $10-a-day child care system.

Ontario’s child care framework is built on three essential principles:

• Affordability for families.
• Public funding for stability.
• Expansion to meet growing demand.

Yet operators cannot simply raise parent fees to cover rising wage costs. Under CWELCC, fees are capped, and operating funding is largely determined by the Ontario Ministry of Education. Most providers are non-profit organizations with limited financial flexibility.

This means that maintaining pay equity is no longer simply an employer issue—it is a system-design issue. When governments establish a publicly funded child care system, they must ensure that funding mechanisms reflect the legal and economic realities of operating that system. If pay equity requires wage increases, public funding formulas must be adjusted accordingly. Otherwise, operators will be expected to absorb costs they have no practical means of recovering.

The lesson is straightforward: workforce realities—including pay equity—must be fully integrated into the next phase of system design.

Why This Matters for Expansion

Ontario still needs tens of thousands of new child care spaces.

Expansion depends on:

• A stable workforce.
• Predictable operating funding.
• Confidence that operators can meet their legal obligations over time.

Yet workforce shortages remain significant, wage pressures continue to grow, and financial risks are becoming harder for many operators to manage.

These are practical barriers to expansion—not signs of resistance to growth.

Bottom Line

Pay equity will continue to push wages upward in child care. That is both legally required and fundamentally appropriate.

The question is not whether wages should rise.

The question is whether the funding system will evolve to support that reality.

Building the Next Phase

The success of $10-a-day child care depends on getting this right.

That means:

• Continuing to invest in affordability.
• Supporting expansion, particularly in the non-profit sector.
• Strengthening workforce strategies, including wages and benefits.

Other jurisdictions are already moving in this direction. Prince Edward Island, for example, has implemented a publicly funded wage grid, with starting ECE wages ranging from $29.15 to $31.12 per hour as of October 2025, reflecting broader labour market realities.

Ontario does not need to replicate PEI’s model exactly. But it does need to recognize the same principle:

A stable system requires a stable and fairly compensated workforce.

Moving Forward

The Tribunal has not created a new obligation. It has reaffirmed an existing one.

The policy response should be equally clear: align funding with legal requirements, support operators in meeting their obligations, and ensure child care professionals are fairly compensated.

Families across Ontario already rely on the success of $10-a-day child care. Its long-term sustainability will depend not only on affordability and expansion, but on a workforce that is properly valued and adequately funded.

Child care workers are essential. The law recognizes that reality. Public policy should too.