Daycare advocates say they are worried Ontario's cash-strapped government won't cover a $63.5-million gap in daycare funding in this spring's budget.

The Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care says 7,600 spaces for low-income families could disappear across the province this June, along with 1,800 childcare jobs.

The federal government gave the province a one-time lump sum in 2006 for daycare subsidies, which the province spread out over four years. That money will run out in June.

Rosemary White, executive director of Bond Child and Family Development, said her centre might have to shut down after 72 years of providing preschool programs for needy families.

That's because most parents who send their children to the Toronto centre receive daycare subsidies. Once those subsidies disappear, they will be forced to pull their children, predicted White.

On Wednesday, Children and Youth Services Minister Laurel Broten said she is urging the federal government to continue the subsidies.

The province has already provided $18 million in bridge funding to stretch the subsidies out until the end of this school year, Broten said.

"But come the end of June, we all really need to start calling on the federal government to come back into the child care business," she said.