News & Stories: Policy Monitor

Excerpt: "Ontario is investing in infrastructure and economic development in First Nation communities in Northern Ontario, to identify new business opportunities, boost economic growth and provide safe child care spaces."

Excerpt: "Ontario is also investing in smaller class sizes for students in full-day kindergarten (FDK) and Grades 4-8. FDK classes, which are supported by a teacher and an early childhood educator, will now be capped at 30 students next school year, falling to 29 students in 2018-19, and average no more than 26 students per class within each school board. Support will also be provided to ensure that for students in grades 4-8, all school boards have average class sizes of 24.5 or fewer students."

Excerpt: "The government is committed to addressing these challenges by increasing access to licensed child care and by making it more affordable for families: 24,000 more children up to four years old will have access to child care in 2017-18. This is part of the province's plan to help 100,000 kids access child care over five years, as announced in the 2016 Ontario Speech from the Throne; Parents will receive more financial support to increase affordability, including subsidies for approximately 60 per cent of new child care spaces."

Excerpt: "Finding quality and affordable child care can be a challenge for families in some communities due to long waitlists for subsidies and spaces. The government is helping 100,000 more children access affordable, quality licensed child care to give them the best start in life and support families across Ontario. As a first step, the Province invested an additional $65.5 million to help create 3,400 licensed child care spaces in fall 2016."

Excerpt: "Ontario is supporting mothers and babies with new and expanded health care services, including more midwives, enhanced newborn screening and increased supports for vulnerable babies."

Excerpt: "$15 Minimum Wage and Equal Pay for Part-Time and Full-Time Workers Part of Plan to Help People Get Ahead in a Changing Economy."

Excerpt: "Ontario has been working together with partners in child care and related sectors to build a high quality, seamless, and more accessible early years and child care system."

Excerpt: "Federal Budgets 2016 and 2017 proposed to invest $7.5 billion over 11 years, starting in 2017-2018, to support and create more high-quality, affordable child care across the country, particularly for families more in need. Of this investment: $95 million will go towards closing data gaps, to better understand what child care looks like in Canada and track progress; $100 million will go towards early learning and child care innovation; A portion of this investment will be dedicated to improving access to culturally appropriate early learning and child care programs for all Indigenous children."

Excerpt: "Ontario is investing up to $1.6 billion in new capital funding to support the creation of 45,000 new licensed child care spaces in schools, other public spaces and communities over the next five years."

Excerpt: "As of September 1, 2017, Ontario now requires school boards to provide before- and after-school programs for children up to age 12, in all publicly funded elementary schools serving students up to Grade 6, where there is sufficient demand. These programs provide additional opportunities for play-based programming, and are a critical support for parents who rely on before- and after-school care to accommodate their work schedules."

Excerpt: "Ontario is making it easier for children and their families to access high quality early years programming and services with the launch of 100 new EarlyON Child and Family Centres across the province."

Excerpt: "Ontario is expanding culturally relevant licensed child care and early years programs, and investing in more child care spaces for First Nation, Métis and Inuit children and their families living in urban and rural areas across the province."