Ontario weakened its $10-a-day child care funding rules. Now the federal government is demanding answers.
A handful of stories this week about the child care funding environment in Ontario and federal child care funding have left many wondering how governments will react when a new government comes into power.
The government in Ontario announced a new funding formula that requires government to make “significant” reductions. But how significant? That depends on what the government is counting — and counting — as the funding that will not be funded.
This week, three documents from the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU), along with a press release from the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) and a press conference from MTCU that took place on February 8th, shed light on the child care funding environment in Ontario.
The documents state that one of the first steps the government is taking when it assumes power will be to eliminate the $1.25 billion “direct subsidy” for home child care for children and young people — which the government uses to support care when parents are working — and to “re-fund” home child care.
The documents state:
The government plans to introduce its Child Care Plan in the coming months, which will include a new child care funding formula and changes to the provincial child care strategy, including elimination of the $1.25 billion direct subsidy for home child care and elimination of provincial funding for two-thirds of all home child care in Ontario. With a new child care funding formula, the government will not receive a subsidy from the federal government for funding two-thirds of home child care in Ontario.
The documents state:
The government does not plan to re-fund home child care.
The OHRC press release states the following:
The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) is urging the government to ensure that services to vulnerable Ontarians do not become less accessible under the Liberals’ plans. In a recent ruling, the OHRC found that Ontario’s child care funding policy is not impartial and that the government is not ensuring that vulnerable Ontarians have access to appropriate child care and preschool programs. The OHRC has also found that the government has not developed a mechanism to ensure that parents of children in long-term care are provided with the child care services they require. This violates the Human Rights Code by creating a
