At long last, national child care is coming to Ontario at $10 a day.
What were we waiting for? What took Doug Ford so long to sign up?
For months, the Progressive Conservative premier has faced accusations of ideological foot-dragging, allegedly thumbing his nose at generous national funding while other provinces fell into line. Now we have Ford’s answer.
All thanks to a deal backed not only by federal dollars, but federal cheerleaders:
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal cabinet team led the chorus of cheers Monday, lavishing praise on Ford and his PC ministers with first-name fondness and friendly shout-outs. Their show of good faith—and face—not only cut across party lines, but rose above rival levels of government.
“It’s always great to be making big announcements for Ontario families alongside Premier Ford,” Trudeau gushed. “Doug, it’s so good that we’re together again today.”
On child care, Ontario is last in line but not least — certainly not in largesse. It is the biggest, costliest project in Canada, adding up to more than $13.2-billion over six years, with more to come this year.
By adding a sixth year, and negotiating hundreds of millions in extra child care infrastructure spending to be announced later, it’s fair to say that Ontario might have left money on the table had Ford heeded his critics and simply taken Ottawa’s initial offer without question. The secret behind the success of the secret negotiations?
Canada’s new natural governing coalition.
Consider the concord behind the accord. Not to be confused with the unexpected parliamentary pact between the federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Trudeau’s Liberals signed this month, the unheralded convergence between Trudeau and Ford’s Ontario Tories is turning Canadian politics on its head.
The tag team has Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca tugging at his proverbial forelock, and pulls the rug out from provincial NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, as the June 2 provincial election looms. Along with assorted child care critics, they accused the premier of playing politics up until the last minute.
In fact, last-minute changes to the prime minister’s travel schedule (flying twice to Europe over the Ukrainian crisis) prompted Trudeau to request a delay in the announcement that he adamantly wanted to attend in Brampton. On Monday, the unlikely Ford-Trudeau road show was reunited.
It was just the latest in a growing list of federal-provincial appearances that have included a subway announcement on the weekend and a car plant investment the week before. Ford’s support of federal emergency legislation last month, to tackle a protest convoy occupying the capital, sealed the alliance.
Together again, the two sides overflowed with gratitude.
“I just got to thank them again,” Ford beamed. “I’ve been in politics a long time, similar to the prime minister and the rest of these folks — two governments working side by side, shoulder to shoulder, forget the political stripes.”
But it goes beyond bonhomie and is broader than a bromance, extending to the deputy PM as well: “We’ve built up a great relationship and you know I have a great relationship with the PM and I have a great relationship with Chrystia Freeland. She she’s wonderful.”
It’s not just the provincial opposition parties that are frustrated spectators to this Ottawa-Ontario axis. By locking in Ford’s Tories on child care, and relying on Singh’s NDP to keep his Liberal government in power for three more years in Ottawa, Trudeau has also left the federal Conservatives on the sidelines — making it harder for a future government to upend his child care legacy after the 2025 election.
It was just a few years ago that both Ford and Trudeau used each other as punching bags in their respective election campaigns, each leader lambasting the other to whip up support. Now, with the Ontario election barely two months away, the premier is focused on the coming campaign — and counting on continued assists from Trudeau.
Ford’s Tories don’t typically win favor with their vote base by promoting child care plans on the campaign trail. But the deep discounts now on offer dovetail neatly with the “affordability” theme that Ford keeps repeating.
“As a government, we’re laser focused on finding more ways to keep costs down for Ontario families,” Ford mused — as if he had campaigned for cheaper child care all along, instead of merely being the lucky beneficiary of federal largesse. “Most recently, we did so by eliminating the cost of the license plate stickers, while also refunding the fees paid over the past two years, and we’re eliminating unfair road tolls,” he continued as Trudeau looked on and listened.
While claiming credit for his share of the federal child care funding, Ford also boasted Monday about Ontario being the first province to introduce full-day kindergarten — as if his Tories had brought it to fruition, instead of inheriting it from a previous Liberal government at Queen’s Park. A populist premier who came to power promising to undo that provincial Liberal legacy is now reimagining it as his own, while repurposing the federal Liberal vision for his own electoral ambitions.
Together, Trudeau and Ford have come together as Canada’s own Odd Couple to give birth to cheap child care in Ontario, the culmination of the prime minister’s promise of a truly national program. Think of them as Felix and Oscar, Justin and Doug, cohabiting and co-operating in an ongoing series, one program to the next.
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