Ontario looks at ways to make child care more affordable

TORONTO — Ontario is looking at ways to make child care more affordable for families in the province, announcing a framework the minister in charge calls a step toward universal child care.

A new strategy aims to increase access to high-quality child care by funding new spaces, providing more funding for licensed home child care and offering more fee subsidies for families who need them.

“This framework sets us on a path towards a universally accessible child-care system for Ontario families, one where every Ontario family that needs licensed child

care can access that care, where every family that needs affordable child care can access that care and one where every family that wants quality care can get that care,” said Early Years and Child Care Minister Indira Naidoo-Harris.

She and Education Minister Mitzie Hunter discussed the framework Tuesday while announcing $1.6 billion in funding to build 45,000 new licensed spaces. Those new child care spaces are part of a pledge of giving 100,000 more children aged four and under access to licensed child care over five years.

“We all know that child care and the right early years programs and supports play a crucial role in a child’s healthy development and lifelong success,” Hunter said.

“In other words, laying a solid foundation in a child’s earliest years dramatically increases their opportunities in life and a chance for a brighter future.”

According to research from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, several Greater Toronto Area cities have the highest child-care fees in the country, with Toronto topping the list with a median fee of $1,649 a month for infants.

As part of the overall child care framework, Ontario will appoint experts to lead an affordability strategy and the province will study how it can better support early childhood educators and child care staff with compensation, hiring, retention and training.

The strategy also prioritizes the growth of non-profit child care and plans to develop a new approach for early years care for children with special needs.