Even you choose to pay daycare fee all by yourself, you still have to be in central waiting list for a very long time to Daycare center. 2 years ago, my son have been in central waiting list for 1 year before he got admission(we pay all fees ourself, and due to our employer, we have priority in the waiting list for the daycare are paritally founded by Public Works).
in some new develop area, parent register their kids when they are borned to secure a kindergarden afterschool spot...those examples are all without subsidy...
one of the sugguestion for LZ is choose Home daycare and pay all fee by yourself, you will have tax benefits, but I will tell you some good home daycare have its own waiting list!! believe or not, Ottawa Daycare market is CRAZY.....