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EXCERPTS
Re:Quebec budget is balanced &em; barely
March 14
The Quebec budget is a sorry reminder of how far behind Ontario has fallen in serving the needs of working families and children. The Quebec government's recent budget committed to spend $900 million more over the next five years on supports for families, including 20,000 new $7-per-day child-care spaces.
Quebec provides enough regulated child care for almost 40 per cent of children up to the age of 12; in Ontario it is a woeful 17 per cent.
In Toronto, the 55,000 licensed child-care spaces accommodate 21 per cent of children who need care. But with fees reaching $70 per day &em; 10 times the Quebec rate &em; most families can't afford it. Only a quarter of low-income families get financial help and more than 11,000 children are waiting for a subsidized space.
Despite a promise to invest $300 million in child care, the McGuinty government has failed to deliver any provincial funding to date. About 15,000 new spaces were created in Ontario between 2005 and 2007, but they were funded entirely through the now-cancelled national child-care plan. Without a long-term provincial funding commitment, those few spaces will soon disappear.
If we want to boost the economy, reduce poverty and give our kids the healthy start they need and deserve, we must invest in affordable, high-quality child care. The federal government has abandoned child care, but Ontario should not.
Child care is a provincial responsibility, like health care and education. Quebec recognizes its responsibility; so, too, should Ontario in its upcoming budget.
- reprinted from the Toronto Star