Ontario parents welcome new focus on daycare

Promise of 100,000 more daycare spots would mean care for twice as many kids from birth to age 4.

TheStar.com
Sept. 12, 2016
By Laurie Monsebraatens

Parents are applauding the Wynne government’s plans to double access to child care for infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers over the next five years by adding 100,000 more licensed spots in schools, workplaces and community settings across Ontario.

The investment, listed as a top priority in the Liberals’ throne speech Monday, would mean about 40 per cent of children from birth to age 4 would have access to licensed care, up from just 20 per cent today. (The education ministry estimates between 45 and 50 per cent of families with young children are looking for licensed daycare.)

But child-care watchers are worried the promise, with a price tag of between $1 billion and $3 billion in new capital spending and $600 million to $750 million in annual operating costs by 2021, is occurring without an overall plan to restructure the current patchwork system.

“It’s a big commitment. And to get us close to 40 per cent coverage is huge,” said Carolyn Ferns of the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care.

“But it’s not just about the number of spaces and the dollars you throw at it. There are structural issues they need to deal with, such as affordability,” she said. Chronically low wages and uneven program quality are also problems plaguing the system.

Toronto parent Nadine Blum is also concerned about the high cost of care.

Increasing the supply “is certainly a positive step,” said Blum, whose petition last spring to end daycare wait list fees of between $20 and $200 led the province to ban the practice starting this month.

“But I did not hear any specific commitments to address the issue of daycare fees,” she said.

More than 13,000 Toronto children are waiting for child-care subsidies at a time when parents can pay upwards of $20,000 a year for infant care.

Glenn Gustafson and Sarah Ehrhardt were working in Sweden when their son Clarence was born 15 months ago. Compared to Sweden, where high quality child care is universally available at little or no cost to parents, they say the lack of licensed spaces and the high fees in Toronto have been a shock.

“It’s good that they are aiming to serve 40 per cent of the kids,” said Gustafson who works at a community centre in Riverdale. “But what about the other 60 per cent? Why doesn’t Ontario have a plan to address it systematically?”

Government officials say recently appointed associate education minister Indira Naidoo-Harris is leading a broader provincial child-care plan.

Monday’s announcement “will help build on ongoing work with the federal government, parents and partners to develop a child-care and early-years system focused on quality, affordability, accessibility, parent choice and flexibility,” according to a ministry backgrounder.

National child-care expert Martha Friendly praised the province’s financial commitment, noting that any money from Ottawa’s promised child care framework agreement would sweeten the pot.

“I think there is a recognition that child care is complicated,” said Friendly, who heads the Toronto-based Childcare Resource and Resource Unit. “There are lots of pieces. And you have to work on all the pieces at the same time. This announcement indicated a willingness to do that and start moving it forward.”

Toronto Councillor Janet Davis, who has pushed the province to do more for city families struggling to find affordable child care, was also cautiously optimistic.

“The investment is significant, but we need to wait for the details,” said Davis, who represents Ward 31, Beaches-East York.

“How will it be phased in over five years? Will there be more fee subsidies to help families afford child care? And will the funds be dedicated to expand non-profit, high-quality, licensed child care options,” she said

Ontario spends more than $1 billion annually on 350,000 licensed daycare spaces, including about 69,000 spots in Toronto. Historically, Toronto has received one-quarter to one-third of any new provincial funding, meaning the city could get up to 30,000 new child care spaces in the next five years.