News & Stories: Policy Monitor

Excerpt: "Ontario is making an overall new investment of $2.2 billion over three years in child care, which includes over $930 million in 2020-21 to make licensed preschool child care free for kids from the age of 2.5 until they are eligible for kindergarten, beginning in September 2020. To support the expansion of quality, licensed child care, Ontario will also be introducing a wage grid for all program staff working in the early years and child care sector in April 2020 that will ensure their compensation is more closely aligned with Early Childhood Educators working in full-day kindergarten."

Excerpt: "Many parents today are trying to balance family and career challenges. We're helping families by making it easier to access good and affordable child care. We're helping with child care by: providing free preschool child care for kids aged two-and-a-half until they're eligible for kindergarten, starting September 2020; helping families access over 100,000 new child care spaces; increasing access to before- and after-school programs for kids up to age 12."

Excerpt: "Ontario is funding Canada's first dedicated care centre for fetuses requiring high-risk medical care and in-utero surgeries. The new Ontario Fetal Centre will support expectant families with increased access to world-renowned specialists and ground-breaking surgeries."

Excerpt: "Building more child care spaces and making child care more affordable will give parents, especially women, more choice about when and if they return to work, which will help close the gender wage gap and grow Ontario's economy."

Excerpt: "Growing Together: Ontario’s Early Years and Child Care Workforce Strategy is our plan to build a stronger, more robust workforce by recruiting and retaining more educators in the early years and child care sector. It is our plan to better care for the educators who care for our children. The strategy includes the following five initiatives to support educators: 1. Establishing fair compensation, 2. Improving working conditions, 3. Enhancing skills and opportunities, 4. Valuing contributions, 5. Increasing recruitment."

Excerpt: "Ontario's licensed child care sector continues to grow, driven by growth in licensed child care centres (see Figure 3 and Table 1). Specific areas of growth since 2008-09 include the following: The number of licensed child care centres increased by more than 15%, from 4,708 to 5,437. Licensed spaces have increased by 73%, from 246,642 to 427,032; The number of spaces has grown across all age groups, including kindergarten (280%), school age (90%), toddler (69%), infant (57%), and preschool (7%)."

Excerpt: "The proposed changes include: Increasing the number of young children that home-based child care providers can have in their care, from two under two-years-old, to three under two-years-old; Lowering the age at which home-based child care providers must count their own children towards the maximum allowable number of children in care, from six-years-old to four-years-old; Reducing the age requirement from six-years-old to four-years-old for authorized recreation programs that serve children after school; Removing the restriction that a parent must receive financial assistance before licensed in-home child care services can be provided for their child."

Excerpt: "Ontario will commit up to $1.0 billion over the next five years to create up to 30,000 childcare spaces in schools, including approximately 10,000 spaces in new schools. These school‐based childcare settings will provide safe learning environments for children and offer them the opportunity to grow in a familiar environment."

Excerpt: "Eligible staff working in a licensed child care program or agency will continue to see increased wages of up to $2 an hour, while home child care providers working with a licensed child care agency will be eligible for a grant of up to $20 a day. This investment will help strengthen Ontario's child care system by retaining more registered early childhood educators and other qualified professionals."

Excerpt: "Today, Adam Vaughan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, and the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced that seven early learning and child care innovation projects in the Greater Toronto Area are receiving nearly $1.8 million in funding."

Excerpt: "Ontario is committed to providing families with more choice and convenience when it comes to accessing child care that works for them. That's why over the over the next five years the government is pledging up to $1 billion to create up to 30,000 new child care spaces in schools across the province to provide young children with a safe environment to learn and grow. Included in this commitment is nearly 10,000 child care spaces that will be built in new schools."

Excerpt: "Starting in the 2021 tax-year, the credit would also be available for eligible families through regular advance payments during the year, helping parents better manage child care expenses as they are incurred.

The CARE tax credit will be on top of the existing Child Care Expense Deduction (CCED) and focus support to low- and moderate-income families. The CARE tax credit will provide about $1,250 per family, on average, in new child care support to about 300,000 families. The maximum amount available will be higher for families with a child dealing with a severe disability, with no age restrictions."