I want to thank the member from Thornhill for her exceptional leadership, standing up for all families in this Legislature. And, Speaker, I celebrate with her what this child care deal means for working people in this province. We averaged this year $4,000 in savings as we hit 25% on average in a reduction, and 50%—we’re still on track to achieve that by December 31 of this year, roughly $12,000 in the bank, because our Premier had the fortitude to stand up for non-profit and for-profit child care operators and the children and the families who depend on them.

The member from Thornhill is right: Operators were looking for more certainty from the various municipal service providers in the province. So we have done that, following the best advice of for-profit and non-profit child care to deliver on the priority of this government, which is money in the bank and savings for working people. That’s why we extended the deadline to November 1. It’s why we’ve streamlined the guidelines for operators. It’s why we’ve reduced the red tape, all to build confidence as we continue our effort to reduce fees and make life more affordable for the parents of this province.

I again want to thank the member from Thornhill for this important and timely question.

The first thing we did, part of our response to child care operators to incentivize participation and thus reduce fees for parents, was reduce the amount of days operators can take to get the savings to parents. It was 60 days; it now will be 20—part of our mission to reduce costs and move quickly to make life a bit more affordable.

What we didn’t do, though, is leave $2.9 billion on the table. We didn’t leave an extra year of funding certainty on the table. We didn’t leave for-profit, parents and their kids behind, as the Liberals and New Democrats would have recommended, taking the first deal. We set up for a better deal that creates opportunities for all families, and part of this mission is to reduce fees, a significant reduction of $12,000 next year down to $10 a day by year 2025.

In the words of the private operators group, “POG is grateful for the Ontario government for listening to us all the way through and making the appropriate changes. Hard work pays off.”

We’re going to continue our efforts to reduce fees, increase access and make life affordable for Ontario families.