Excerpts from the strategy:
Child care: Giving parents time to improve their employment prospects
Parents living in poverty, especially single parents, have child care responsibilities that affect their ability to improve their family income. High-quality child care helps parents pursue - with peace of mind - a good job or a course of study.
Since 2003-04, our province has doubled funding for child care to more than $1 billion annually.
Building on Progress:
We are supporting the modernization of child care by investing an additional $33.6 million to protect licensed child care spaces and provide subsidies to improve the quality of care. We have also introduced Bill 10, the Child Care Modernization Act, 2014, which, if passed, will support informed choices about child care options, increase access to quality child care for families in Ontario, and strengthen the quality of child care and early years programs.
Opportunity missed
Ontario works closely with its municipal partners to support a stable, high-quality child care system, but meeting demand will require partnership among all levels of government. In 2006, the federal government eliminated the Early Learning and Child Care Agreement and cut $1.3 billion over three years in support payments for Ontario. We are committed to highlighting the need for a national investment in child care and working with the federal government to support greater access to quality child care and early years services in Ontario.