Advocacy group welcomes reduction in child-care fees
CBC
Canada's national child care advocacy association, Child Care Now, has welcomed a reduction in child-care fees in Ontario, while expressing concern that far too few families stand to benefit.
Child-care fees have been reduced from an average of $23 a day to an average of $19, and capped at $22. The fee reduction took effect on Wednesday. Morna Ballantyne, Child Care Now's executive director, said while the fee reduction will only be for parents with children six or younger in licensed child care, she's "very happy" that fees are going down. "What's really good about the announcement … is that Ontario is now following what a number of other provinces have done, and that is introduce what we call a flat fee, so it doesn't matter which child-care centre you have access to, you'll be paying no more than $22 a day," Ballantyne told CBC Toronto. "In some cases you'll be paying less and that's why the average fee being charged across Ontario is lower than $22, so that's exciting."
Franca Lombardi, who operates a daycare in York Region, welcomes the reduction, saying it provides a "break" for parents. "It's just important that parents need to know that operators, we're on their side. We want them to have that break," Lombardi told CBC Toronto. "Everything, life is expensive right now. We're not the bad guys. We're just trying to get the money in their hands, leave us out of it so we can continue doing what we know needs to be done for the kids," Lombardi said.
Ballantyne said while the Ontario government is allocating more money for daycares, "the lack of spaces" remains a problem. "The fee reduction will only be for parents with children in licensed child care … so it won't benefit everybody," she said.
"And of course, it will only benefit those who have access to licensed child care and, unfortunately, that's still far too few families that are benefiting from the program just because there are not enough licensed spaces for all the families who want them," she said.
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