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After changes in provincial and federal funding for day-care programs, the future is grim, say city staff responsible for children's services.
A report by staff on the effects of the changes says Ottawa will be able to maintain its 16,000 licensed child-care spaces for the short term, but no more can be added to deal with a current waiting list of 8,000 children. About 4,000 of those are waiting for one of the 6,500 spaces that are subsidized by the city.
According to the report, after the federal Conservatives cancelled the former Liberal government's national day-care program, funding for subsidized licensed spaces is frozen.
Over time, the report says, the costs of providing spaces will rise and some will have to be eliminated to keep programs running.
In four years, federal funding for subsidies -- which is transferred to the province and in turn to the city to administer --will dry up completely. The province and the city would have to make up the difference, if current levels are to be maintained.
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Ottawa created 776 spaces and was planning for thousands more. However, with the election of the federal Conservatives, all previous funding agreements with provinces on child care were cancelled. The Conservatives will provide enough funding to allow the province to maintain current programs for four years.
The Conservatives' child-care plan gives a $100 monthly payment to all families for every child under six years old, to be used in whatever way families want.
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- reprinted from the Ottawa Citizen