TORONTO - As Ontario awaits a promised infusion of money from the federal government for the national child-care program, one prominent expert is arguing that the province should focus more on new spaces than getting to the $10-a-day target.
Federal Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu announced last week that an additional $5.4 billion would go to provinces and territories over two years for child care, though the money is being viewed as sustaining the system and not necessarily getting the program much closer to its goals.
The government set ambitious targets for reducing the fees parents pay to $10 a day on average, and creating hundreds of thousands of new spaces by this year, but they have not been met in many jurisdictions. Fees in Ontario are at about $19 on average and about 54,000 new spaces have been created within the program since 2019, the province said, short of the goal of 86,000.