There is no single GTA daycare waitlist
In all five GTA regions, licensed child care centres and home child care agencies keep their own waitlists. You add your child to each one separately.
- Toronto: contact centres directly. For City-run TELCCS centres, one fee subsidy application also places you on the TELCCS waitlists you pick; full-fee families use TELCCS waitlist registration.
- Peel: “each licensed child care provider manages its own waitlist” (peelregion.ca). InfoPeel can help: 905-890-9432.
- York: search the Early Years Program Finder and contact providers (york.ca).
- Halton: the regional search doesn’t show availability; call centres or ask the Child Care Directory & Information Line for a free custom list (Halton CCDIL).
- Durham: “child care operators manage their own waitlists” (durham.ca); Regional centres need one application per location.
Waitlist tips
- Register early, even before your child arrives (Peel’s official advice), and with several programs.
- Ask each centre how its list works and whether there is a fee; Halton’s Regional centres, for example, charge nothing to join and give priority to subsidy families, siblings and children needing extra support.
- Keep your details current with each provider; many will drop stale entries. Our free waitlist tracker helps you keep track of who you called and when.
The $22/day CWELCC cap
- Under the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system, since January 1, 2025 base fees for eligible children under 6 in CWELCC-enrolled programs are capped at $22/day; the Province reports a $19/day provincial average (ontario.ca).
- The cap includes mandatory fees: a one-time registration fee is spread across a year of care days and must still keep the total at $22/day or less (Ontario licensing manual).
- Not every licensed program is enrolled. Halton reports enrolment of additional providers is currently closed. Ask each centre, or check the CWELCC tag on our Toronto map.
- Families on fee subsidy can pay even less; see fee subsidy by region.
More guides
Last checked: October 13, 2026. Rules and phone numbers change; confirm with the official source links.