The government of Ontario came in in 2018, inheriting the highest child care prices in Canada—roughly $50 to $60 a day, a 500% increase under the former Liberals—and it really was unacceptable. We priced parents out of the market. Mothers often had to make a choice of working or raising their kids, and that’s a false choice for so many.

And so, we got to power. We rolled up our sleeves. We negotiated a better deal, and we now have cut fees by 50%, saving at least $8,000 a child in this province. That’s a meaningful action that puts money in the bank for working parents. We’re also increasing spaces—86,000 more to go.

If the member opposite wants to be constructive in her advocacy for London families and operators, then stand with us. Stand up to the federal government for a deal that allows them to fund for-profit child care so that 30% of the operators in London could receive the funding they deserve, so that all parents receive affordable, accessible child care in the province of Ontario.

The member opposite speaks about accountability. We are, right now, because the province of Ontario had the fortitude to negotiate a mid-term review, which allows technical officials, public servants, between the Ministry of Finance at the federal government and the Ministry of Finance at the provincial government—working through technical analysis of the numbers. What it will prove to the feds, and what I hope the member opposite will stand with this government and articulate to the federal government, is that there is a delta; there’s a gap. We knew this when we signed the deal. And what we should be is united, as a Parliament, to demand more funding and more flexibility from the feds so that we actually support all families and all kids in all regions of this province.