QUEEN’S PARK – During question period Tuesday, Kitchener-Waterloo MPP Catherine Fife challenged Premier Wynne to commit to building an affordable, high-quality, and accessible child care system in Ontario.
“Parents, families and advocates know that we don’t have a child care system in Ontario. What we have is a crisis,” said Fife. “Ontario parents face the highest child care costs in Canada. We don’t have affordable fees, we don’t have decent work or pay for early childhood educators, and we don’t have enough quality child care spaces.”
According to a report released earlier this month, the average cost of child care fees in Ontario are 50% higher than undergraduate tuition fees. Between 2008 and today, less than 20 per cent of Ontario families have access to licensed child care.
“Public and not-for-profit child care spaces provide the highest quality of care for children but this government won’t commit to building a system based on quality,” Fife said. “For 14 years, families have waited as costs have risen and wait-lists have grown. They cannot wait any longer.”