Cap on for-profit centres hampering growth of $10-a-day child-care system in Ontario

Ontario municipalities person been forced to move down thousands of child-care spaces successful nan $10-a-day strategy because of a limit connected nan percent of for-profit spaces successful nan province’s woody pinch nan national government, nan provincial authorities says.

The state has truthful acold created little than a 3rd of nan caller spaces it committed to by 2026 and Ontario Education Minister Todd Smith and nan relation representing nan province’s municipalities person sent a missive to national Minister Jenna Sudds, asking her to assistance nan headdress connected for-profit spaces.

“While Ontario recognizes nan important domiciled that not-for-profit providers play successful nan kid attraction system, these operators cannot capable nan capacity alone,” Smith and nan Association of Municipalities of Ontario wrote.

“With waitlists truthful high, parents and guardians crossed nan state are seeking value kid attraction for their children successful their section organization sloppy of whether they beryllium for-profit, not-for-profit, aliases location based.”

In nan woody pinch nan national government, Ontario committed — grudgingly, nan missive suggests — to maintaining a ratio successful nan $10-a-day strategy of 70 per cent non-profit spaces and 30 per cent for-profit spaces. But that ratio has been artificially hampering maturation of nan nationalist child-care strategy in Ontario, nan state and its municipalities say.

Peel Region has been identified by nan state arsenic needing nan astir caller child-care spaces, but has had to move down much than 2,000 imaginable spaces nether nan $10-a-day programme because nan operators were for-profit, nan missive says.

Meanwhile, waitlists person ballooned since nan preamble of nan program, which has already seen fees trim successful half for parents astatine participating child-care centres and they are group to beryllium lowered further to an mean of $10 a day.

In Kawartha Lakes, children are group to walk an mean of 6.4 years waiting for licensed kid care, up from an mean of 3.7 years before Ontario joined nan program. In nan Region of Waterloo, location has been a 115 per cent summation successful nan number of children connected nan waitlist, pinch 9,200 kids now successful nan queue. Ottawa’s waitlist has accrued much than 41 per cent.

A spokesperson for Sudds, nan curate of families, children and societal development, said nan curate would beryllium responding to Smith to proceed discussions connected how Ontario can meet its abstraction creation targets.

“When creating this Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care System, our privilege was and remains to summation entree to high-quality, affordable, elastic and inclusive kid attraction for families crossed Canada,” Genevieve Lemaire wrote successful a statement.

“As nan past state to motion on, Ontario has made progress, however, arsenic each of america tin agree, much activity needs to beryllium done.”

Ontario’s woody committed nan state to 86,000 caller child-care spaces since 2019, though nan woody was signed successful 2022. But truthful acold while location person been astir 51,000 caller spaces since 2019 for nan kids 5 and under, nan property group covered by nan nationalist program, only 25,500 of those are wrong nan $10-a-day system.

Trending Now

Child-care operators and advocates person besides blamed Ontario’s look for really it doles retired backing for stifling maturation — they opportunity it is not covering their costs and nan state has promised a revised look soon — arsenic good arsenic nan compensation levels for child-care staff.

Ontario has group a costs level for ECEs successful centres participating successful nan programme astatine $23.86 an hour, an magnitude that is group to emergence by $1 an hr each twelvemonth until 2026. That is higher than nan level initially group by nan province, but advocates opportunity nan level is still excessively debased to make a meaningful quality successful nan province’s recruitment and retention crisis.

Ministry officials person warned nan state could beryllium short 8,500 ECEs by 2026, and advocates and operators opportunity that without nan expertise to amended pull and support ECEs, location will beryllium nary 1 to unit nan spaces that do get created.

Carolyn Ferns is nan argumentation co-ordinator for the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, which advocates for a non-profit and nationalist child-care system, and she said Ontario needs to reside its ain backing look and workforce issues earlier seeking to grow for-profit daycares.

Operators are having a difficult clip expanding since they’re struggling some to make ends meet nether nan existent backing look and pull capable workers to unit existing rooms, fto unsocial opening caller ones, she said.

“Why would you build an hold connected your location erstwhile your location is connected fire?” Ferns said.

“I deliberation nan Ford authorities needs to look astatine their implementation of (the $10-a-day system) in Ontario and getting that right, and not going down a roadworthy of trading disconnected nan child-care strategy to nan highest bidder.”

Ontario’s missive says for-profit operators successful nan state are mostly small, women-owned businesses, pinch 96 per cent of them operating 1 aliases 2 sites.