New budget offers no-cost daycare
Parents welcome the idea, but local PC candidate says there’s a catch
Amanda Appelman said she hopes the promise of free daycare in Tuesday’s provincial budget comes to pass.
“It would be beautiful,” said the local mother.
Appelman, 29, has two daughters - one aged 8 and the other 11 months.
For six years she was a single mother. During that time she was training as a nurse, and her first-born was in daycare.
Today she’s no longer single and has a career. But her baby is about to start daycare and it’s expensive.
On Tuesday the Ontario government released a budget calling for free daycare for all children in Ontario from the age of 2 1/2 until they start junior kindergarten.
Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Jeff Leal - also the local MPP - said it represents a saving for families of roughly $17,000 per child.
That’s significant, Appelman said, especially for families that can least afford childcare bills.
She also sees educational value in daycare, and thinks it should be more widely accessible if only for that reason.
“Daycare is just as beneficial for the younger mind as school - and school is funded,” she said.
Sandra Robinson, children’s services program manager for the city, agrees that education begins at birth - and that daycare should be accessible for all families.
She says many stay-home parents want to work, but don’t think they can afford to do so. If they take a job that underpays, she said, they are shelling out more for daycare than they’re earning.
“They’re out of pocket... especially women,” she said, referring to the wage gap between men and women.
Meanwhile the Ontario budget also proposes to further subsidize the wages of daycare workers. That’s good news too, said one daycare operator.
Teresa Burke, the executive director at Nursery Two Childcare, said it will bring the wage for a daycare worker on par with that of an aide in a kindergarten class.
“It’s wonderful news for parents and for staff, if this goes through,” she said.
Yet there are inequities in the plan, said Dave Smith, PC candidate in PeterboroughKawartha in the provincial election in June. He said the Liberals’ plan to give free daycare only covers families for a specific time.
When a working mom’s maternity leave runs out after a year, Smith said, she has to
pay while another family with an older child gets daycare for free.
“They (the Liberals) use the word ‘fair’ a lot,” Smith said. “How is that fair?”
Sean Conway, the NDP candidate for Peterborough-Kawartha, also said the plan is a step in the right direction, but isn’t inclusive enough. “We can do a lot better,” he said.
Leal pointed out that some maternity leaves over more than 12 months, for example.
He also said the government consulted experts who feel that particular timeframe - from age 2 1/2 until kindergarten - is a crucial time for families to have access to daycare.