Education Minister says Ontario is negotiating for more money for childcare, flexibility and sustainability | The Canadian News

TORONTO – The money currently being offered to Ontario in the federal government’s child care plan would make families pay well over $ 10 a day, the province’s education minister said Monday.

Stephen Lecce faced questions about why Ontario has been unable to reach an agreement with Ottawa, when eight provinces and one territory have already signed it, including an agreement with Alberta announced Monday.

“Today, we believe that the program they offer in Ontario is good for families,” Lecce said. “What we are asking the feds is to look at the numbers.”

Karina Gould, the federal minister for families, children and social development, said Ontario has yet to come up with a detailed action plan on how it would spend federal funds after Ottawa sent a term sheet to all provinces and territories seven months ago. , outlining your goals in rate reductions, space creation, and workforce development.

Lecce said he sent Gould a letter Friday with Ontario’s “core priorities” and that he will send updated templates to support the province’s claim that a current proposal would hurt the province.

The $ 10.2 billion on the table, based on Ontario’s population, also doesn’t account for the $ 3.6 billion a year the province spends on a full-day kindergarten for children ages four and up. five years, Lecce said.

“We think we can still get a deal, but we need more investment from the feds to recognize the unique, sophisticated and mature child care system that we proudly have in this province,” he said.

The liberal federal government’s five-year, $ 30 billion child care plan promises to cut rates to an average of $ 10 a day nationwide and cut them in half by next year.

Speaking in Alberta on Monday after announcing the deal with that province, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said affordable child care is universally understood as necessary for families and for economic growth, noting the fact that he and the Prime Minister Jason Kenney was able to come to an agreement. despite major disagreements on many other issues.

“It can be done,” Trudeau said. “The federal government is there with the money and the framework to do it and we are very hopeful that Ontario will do it.”

Lecce said there is a good deal for Ontario on the horizon, but he wants one that is flexible and sustainable, including a mechanism by which an agreement could extend beyond five years.

“If we don’t get to $ 10 at any point, if they don’t recognize us for the $ 3.6 billion investment we make annually, and we don’t have a way to make sure it’s a long-lasting program in a sustainable program, then I feel like, already You know, we’re setting ourselves up for short-term success and long-term failure, ”Lecce said.

Gould noted that the federal government has committed another $ 9 billion “on an ongoing basis” and will guarantee in legislation that the program continues beyond five years.

READ MORE: Ontario municipalities consider direct talks with Ottawa about cheaper child care

Provincial NDP Leader Andrea Horwath suggested that Ontario’s progressive Conservative government is trying to get the federal government to pay for full-day kindergarten, an expense borne by the province for about a decade, just to free up some cash. .

“I don’t understand why (Prime Minister) Doug Ford wants to go back and use this money that is supposed to be for childcare, to help their basic education,” he said.

“We should be able to incorporate the child care program, the $ 10 daily child care program offered by the federal government, in addition to all-day learning or full-day kindergarten.”

Ontario Liberal House leader John Fraser also said the government is trying to “replenish its budget” on full-time kindergarten.

“I think it is very frustrating for parents that the government has not been able to come to an agreement on this,” he said.