KITCHENER -- Leaders in Waterloo Region said they're mostly pleased with the funding announcements included in the federal budget.

Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic and Regional Chair Karen Redman agreed the national child-care program is a big win for the region.

They also highlighted spending on 35,000 new housing units and $50 million over two years to support regional economic development.

"This is absolutely critical at a time like this, especially as we look at the needs in our own community around supportive housing and deeply affordable housing going forward," Vrbanovic said.

"We can look at affordable housing, we can look at investment and infrastructure, we can point to Phase Two of the LRT, as well as investments in two-way, all-day GO," Redman said. "We have many projects that are shovel-read and are priorities for this community, so $50 million sounds like a lot of money. There's a lot of municipalities, but we have done our due diligence so we are really happy to hear that."

The Liberal government pledged $30 billion for child care in the budget. Dana Bernhadt, executive director of the Emmanuel at Brighton Child Care Centre, said they have 500 families on a waitlist and receive daily calls from people looking for spaces.

She said a universal child-care system is important, but said it needs to be sustainable and recognize the work of early childhood educators.