HALIFAX — The Nova Scotia government says the province needs more money from the federal government to reach their 2021 target of creating 9,500 new affordable childcare spaces.

Last month, Early Childhood Development Minister Brendan Maguire said he had asked federal officials for more funding to meet the goal.

A new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says a majority of communities in Nova Scotia are not meeting the childcare targets established when the province signed its bilateral agreement with the federal government in 2021.

At the time, the province committed to having an average daycare cost of $10-a-day by March 31, 2026.

But the new report says that the average cost of daycare services in the Halifax area is more than $20 per day.

In rural areas of the province, the report says costs can run even higher.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 9, 2025.

The Canadian Press