Excerpts from the report:
The case for a child care strategy in Ontario has never been clearer.
It is now widely recognized that quality early learning and child care services promote healthy child development as a foundation for a successful economy and a more inclusive, cohesive society. We know that quality child care is an essential component of an anti-poverty and equity strategy. It gives every child a fair start while at the same time providing support for the participation of families - especially women - in the labour market, as well as in training and education opportunities.
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Now is not the time to turn the clock back. The early years are too important to put on hold. We cannot afford to lose the momentum on all that has already been done in Ontario to put child care on the right track. Yet that is exactly what the McGuinty government appears to be doing. Its response to announced termination of the Federal child care program in the 2006 budget was to scale back its own program and spread the remaining federal money out over three years. That is not an acceptable response.
Ontario's need for a modern child care system did not emerge from the Federal program. It stands on its own. And Ontario's critical shortage of regulated child care spaces did not emerge from any Federal government action. It is the legacy of 10 years of cuts and neglect under the previous government - a legacy the McGuinty government had promised to address before there ever was a federal child care program.