SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Ontario Assembly

43rd Parl. 1st Sess.
June 8, 2023 09:00AM
  • Jun/8/23 11:20:00 a.m.

I want to thank the member opposite for the question. As we conclude the session, we can reflect back on this past year as one of progress when it comes to affordability.

Putting party interests aside, this Parliament enacted a bill and a budget that has allowed us to cut child care fees by 50% for the families we represent—$8,000 to $10,000 in savings per year—and we will go further.

Of course, we need qualified ECEs. We need to recruit them and to retain the ones who work with our kids. It’s why in the program we signed with the federal government an additional dollar per hour has been committed per year—a commitment to install a wage floor for the first time and a clear commitment by the government to go even further.

Mr. Speaker, in addition to increasing access to the ECEs, increasing affordable child care options, we’re building 86,000 spaces. This is a monumental step forward for financial relief for the people of Ontario.

We’ll continue to work with the sector, with our workforce and our operators to make life more affordable for families across—

We’ve also committed to expand access to 86,000 spaces by announcing a $213-million start-up grant, where we literally help incentivize the marketplace—more spaces and therefore more workers in the communities that have a disproportionately under-represented amount of child care spaces to their population.

We’re going to get this right. We’re going to work together. We are going to make life affordable for moms and dads across this province.

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