The second point I will make is that in Newfoundland and Labrador, when we transferred unregulated spaces to regulated, they took advantage of the $10 a day. They went from $25, $30 or $40 a day to $10 a day, so there's another benefit to going from unregulated to regulated. I'll leave it at that for a moment.
When we signed the agreement, we went from whatever the price had been, and in some cases, it had been $40, $45, $60 or $70 a day. We initially went to $25 a day and then to $10 a day. I will say that the number of spaces in Newfoundland and Labrador has increased significantly—not nearly where it needs to be yet, but it is growing.
As costs go down, demand goes up, and that has created some issues with unmet demand. When we went to $25 a day, we saw a huge increase in demand. Going to $10 a day, the demand grew exponentially. There may be more people on the waiting list, but the demand is there because families that could not afford $50 a day can afford $10. They're now on a list, but the number of spaces also grew.
I understand, having signed the agreement and the objectives of the agreement, that growth is more heavily weighted in years three and four because, as we say in Newfoundland, you can't knit an early childhood educator. They have to be educated, and that takes two years.
We had fewer than half of the spaces that were forecast, which was the goal. I'll ask you to speak to what the likelihood of meeting the 250,000 spaces is, but I understand that growth happens as early childhood educators are educated.