News & Stories: Policy Monitor

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."

Excerpt: "Research shows a clear link between a solid foundation in children's early years and their long-term development and success. That is why Ontario is committed to improving access to child care, giving parents more choice and making high quality programs affordable."

Excerpt: "With an investment of over $2 billion in 2019-20 and a commitment to create up to 30,000 new child care spaces in schools, we are building a stronger child care and early years system to provide more children and families with access to child care and give children the best possible start in life."

Excerpt: "During the COVID-19 outbreak, the Ontario government is temporarily preventing child care centres from collecting payments from parents, while also ensuring that their child care spaces are protected."

Excerpt: "Compensation and benefits: Under the agreement, ETFO education workers will receive a one per cent increase to wages and salaries per year for three years. Benefits funding will be provided as a one-time inflationary increase equivalent to 4 per cent per year at the end of the agreement. A funding increase could be provided earlier if the plan falls below certain funding thresholds. These provisions are consistent with Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, 2019."