Insiders say Ottawa and Ontario officials will meet next week to reach a daycare agreement.

OTTAWA – The governments of Prime Minister Doug Ford and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are finally sitting down to formally negotiate a child care deal, Star has learned.

Federal and provincial officials will meet Tuesday in an attempt to reach an agreement that will keep Trudeau’s electoral promise to cut daily daycare costs to $ 10 in five years.

Insiders at Queen’s Park and Ottawa emphasize that they both want to reach an agreement. .

Discussions will focus on whether the federal government’s current offering can meet the early learning and child care needs of Ontario families.

Ford, who has had informal back-channel conversations with Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, expressed concern Tuesday that Ontario is being “scammed” by Ottawa’s offer of $ 10.2 billion for a population of 14.8 million. of people.

By comparison, Alberta, home to 4.4 million people, received $ 3.8 billion.

For Ontario to receive the same amount per capita as Alberta, Ottawa would need to sweeten the jackpot by $ 2.6 billion, to $ 12.8 billion.

“We are seeing these agreements signed (with other provinces and) they are more per capita with (less) conditions,” the prime minister said.

A federal source, speaking confidentially to discuss internal deliberations, said Ottawa has yet to receive a full proposal from Ontario, but called next week’s meeting “definite progress.”

The insider emphasized that Ottawa hopes to negotiate an agreement with Queen’s Park as soon as possible.

Sources close to Ford emphasize that they also want a deal, but that Ontario’s full-time kindergarten for 260,000 four- and five-year-olds should be taken into account.

That costs the province $ 3.6 billion a year.

The news comes as Saskatchewan announced that it will use the money it received from Ottawa, under a $ 1.1 billion settlement reached in August, to retroactively reduce rates for all families with children under the age of six who are in child care. with provincial license.

Part of the federal-provincial child care program created by the liberal federal government with the 2021 budget is a requirement that the provinces reduce child care rates by 50 percent by the end of 2022 and eventually reach $ 10. per day by 2026..

Some provinces with signed agreements are already moving faster to pass on the benefits.

Alberta signed an agreement on Monday promising to introduce the rate reduction in January.

At a Facebook Live event with Saskatchewan parents and early childhood educators on Friday, Federal Minister for Families, Children and Social Development Karina Gould said her own son is in daycare, so she understood how important that is to expand affordability and accessibility.

Gould, the Burlington MP, said last month that after being appointed minister in charge of completing the system, she received text messages from a friend who told her that if she could get care for $ 10 a day, the friend could have another. son because she “could afford it.”

In some day care centers in the greater Toronto area, parents spend up to $ 70 a day.

Robert Benzie is the bureau chief for Star’s Queen’s Park and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie