Canada-wide early learning and child care (CWELCC) enrolment

The federal government has agreements with the provinces and territories to build a Canada-wide early learning and child care system. For a daycare buyer, enrolment matters because it comes with its own agreement and rules, separate from the child care licence.

How Ontario handles it

Ontario’s Child Care Centre Licensing Manual says every licensee who wants to be part of the CWELCC system must apply for enrolment through the process set out by its local service system manager. The manager reviews the application and determines whether the program is eligible, and if it enrols the program it works with the licensee to execute a service agreement, which the licensee must comply with and keep at the centre. The manual also says that, for enrolled licensees, section 77.2 of the regulation sets the rules they must follow when setting parent fees.

Other provinces

The Government of Canada lists separate agreements with the provinces and territories, so check the enrolment steps where the centre operates if it is outside Ontario.

What to ask

• Whether the program is enrolled and who the service agreement is with.
• If the legal entity running the centre will change, how the new entity’s CWELCC application fits the closing date: Ontario’s licensing manual says the new entity must apply to its service system manager if it wants to enrol.
• How fee rules affect the figures in the seller’s financial statements.

See how to value a childcare business and child care centre licence.