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Premier Dalton McGuinty is riding to the rescue of 7,600 subsidized
child-care spaces with an infusion of $63.5 million in the upcoming
budget, the Star has learned.
Sources said despite a record $24.7 billion deficit, McGuinty
does not want to abandon what had been a joint federal-provincial
program that was effectively scrapped by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
"What I can say is that we've struggled with this," the premier told reporters Tuesday at Queen's Park.
"On the one hand, you've got these kids who are in quality
daycare spaces and we are very reluctant to evict those kids from those
spaces and create challenges not only for them but for their families
and their parents," McGuinty said.
"On the other hand, every time the federal government steps up
to the plate and says, `We've got funding now for a program,' and then
withdraws from that.... people look to us to fill in that space at a
time when we're struggling to meet our own commitments.
"So it's not an easy challenge for us to overcome and we'll speak to it in the budget."
Insiders say Finance Minister Dwight Duncan will use Thursday's
budget to announce the Liberals will replace the federal funding that
runs out on April 1.
"This is very much a core value to us," an official said, noting
the government will also start the phase-in of all-day kindergarten for
4- and 5-year-olds this September and does not want to undermine that
initiative by curbing daycare funding.
"This is very much a core value to us," an official said, noting
the government will also start the phase-in of all-day kindergarten for
4- and 5-year-olds this September and does not want to undermine that
initiative by curbing daycare funding.
In 2006, former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin's administration
gave the province $252 million as part of a new $5 billion national
child-care plan, but Harper's Conservatives cancelled the program and
replaced it with monthly $100 cheques for parents.
....
The Star reported on March 17 that the province expects to be awash in red ink until 2017-18.
NDP MPP Rosario Marchese (Trinity-Spadina), who has fought for
Queen's Park to retain child-care funding, said it would have been
"ironic and quite sad" if new all-day kindergarten ended up hurting
care for younger kids.
"When you pull out the 4- and 5-year-olds from child-care
providers, you remove an important source of revenue. It's the revenue
that subsidizes care for infants and younger children," said Marchese.
"Without it, (child-care centres) will be crippled and many will
not survive, and those that do will have to increase fees," he said.
- reprinted from the Toronto Star