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In Ontario, quality national childcare just suffered a major setback

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Ontario recently signed on to Justin Trudeau’s national childcare program. However, the foot-dragging and chicanery of the province’s premier, Doug Ford, has led to a second-rate deal. Kids and childcare workers deserve better.
Author: 
Peters, Kaitlin
Format: 
Article
Publication Date: 
29 Apr 2022
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On March 28, Ontario’s Conservative premier, Doug Ford, announced the launch of a historic agreement with Canada’s federal government, signing on to the national childcare deal. The agreement commits the province to bringing the cost of childcare down to $10/day by 2025.

The broad strokes of the deal include a federal transfer of $13.2 billion to the province to be used over the course of six years to reduce childcare fees to the targeted $10 a day. For its part, Ontario’s provincial government will expand families’ access to childcare by creating seventy-one thousand new childcare spots.

The reduction in childcare fees will not happen all at once. By the end of 2022, childcare fees for children who are six years old and younger will be reduced by 50 percent. Starting this month, retroactive rebate checks will be used to reimburse families for 25 percent of the costs of childcare, with a further 25 percent reduction to be implemented by the year’s end. Additional reductions will be put into effect by September 2024 and again in 2025, at which point the cost for spaces should average $10 per day.

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