Ontario asks for details on Mulcair plan for day care

The Ontario government is disputing NDP Leader Tom Mulcair’s assertion that the country’s most populous province supports his plan to create one million $15-a-day child care spaces.

The province’s education minister, Liz Sandals, says Ontario welcomes new investments and interest from “all federal partners” on child care.

But she says Mulcair has not provided sufficient details of his plan — which would require provinces to pick up 40 per cent of the tab — to determine whether Ontario would be prepared to buy in.

Moreover, Sandals says Ontario has already spent billions on child care and full-day kindergarten and those investments would have to be recognized “in full” in any national program requiring matching provincial funds.

If Ontario and other provinces were to insist that money already being spent on child care be counted as part of their matching share of a national program, that could significantly reduce the number of new spaces Mulcair is promising to create.

“While the federal NDP like to claim Ontario supports their plan, they have yet to provide Canadians with any details for their proposal, including how it would impact Ontario families,” Sandals said in an email.

“As it stands, the proposal put forward by the federal NDP leaves a lot of unanswered questions.”

New Democrat MP Peggy Nash said Sunday that Mulcair realizes there’s no “one size fits all” approach to the issue.

“Tom will engage with the provinces, recognize their unique needs, take their existing programs into account and ensure long-term, predictable funding so provinces and communities can plan ahead,” she said in an email.

Mulcair is proposing over eight years to create one million child care spaces that would be accessible to parents for $15 a day, regardless of income. The federal government would pick up 60 per cent of the cost, which the NDP estimates would cost the federal treasury $5 billion annually once fully implemented. The provinces are to pay 40 per cent of the tab.

The NDP says Manitoba, British Columbia and New Brunswick have signalled a willingness to negotiate a shared-cost child care program.