Liberals kill child-care funding bill
NDP motion would’ve given new provincial funds to non-profit daycare centres
The provincial Wynne government has killed an NDP private member’s bill that would have limited new child-care funding to non-profit centres only.
“By committing provincial funding to not-for-profit and public child care, we could have given more families access to the affordable, quality care they need for their kids,” said the NDP’s child-care critic Catherine Fife, who introduced the bill Tuesday.
“That Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals would stand and vote against notfor-profit care was a real disappointment to me, and to parents and child-care advocates around the province,” she said in a statement after the vote Thursday.
Thirty years of research shows quality is higher in non-profit childcare centres than in commercial or for-profit settings, Fife told the legislature.
She argued it would be ethically and fiscally irresponsible for the government to ignore that evidence as it rolls out its plan to add 100,000 licensed child care spaces for kids un- der age 4 over the next five years.
“Because Ontario does not have a comprehensive system of early learning and care, there is an opportunity to design a system with quality at the centre, minus a profit agenda which will compromise access and affordability,” she said.
“We wouldn’t dream of expanding our school system through private businesses and neither should we rely on for-profit corporations to care for our youngest and most vulnerable children,” she added.
The Liberals’ child-care expansion plan, billed as a top priority in last September’s throne speech, would provide licensed space for 40 per cent of kids under age 4, double the amount available today. The govern- ment is expected to spend up to $3.75 billion to build and operate the new spots in schools, workplaces and other community settings.
Although just 24 per cent of childcare centres in Ontario are run by commercial operators, Fife warned they “see an opportunity” and will use the new provincial money to expand their businesses.
Indira Naidoo-Harris, minister responsible for early years and child care, reminded the legislature that provincial child care funding flows to municipalities, which then decide how best to distribute the money.
“If we suddenly tell them that they must put those funds only toward one sector and limit the choices, there may be adverse effects,” she said.
“By limiting what we are doing when it comes to for-profit care, it could result in higher fees for parents or, even worse, the centres could close,” she added. “Those muchneeded spaces would disappear and families would be out there, struggling with fewer choices.”
But Carolyn Ferns of the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care said the debate was confusing for parents and early childhood educators.
“The minister kept repeating that they are transforming child care,” Ferns said. “So is it transformation or the status quo?”