QUEEN’S PARK — Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and Early Learning and Childcare critic Bhutila Karpoche are calling on the Doug Ford government to stop holding up a $10-a-day child care deal with Ottawa as Alberta signs its deal, leaving only Ontario and New Brunswick among the provinces. Horwath and Karpoche released the following statement:
“Ontario parents are drowning in the highest child care fees in the country, and they can’t wait any longer for relief from these mortgage-sized monthly costs. Child care is just one of the many rising costs squeezing family budgets as the price of everything from milk to rent and hydro goes up and up.
Other provinces were able to get a deal done with the federal government. But instead of rushing to bring families relief on child care fees, the Ford government is dragging its feet and refusing to file the paperwork — apparently unwilling to get a deal.
Ontario parents with little ones deserve so much better than the sky-high child care fees being charged under the previous Liberal government, and now the Ford government. They deserve universal, public and non-profit high-quality $10-a-day child care. If Doug Ford won’t get a deal on $10-a-day child care done, an NDP government will as part of its commitment to make life more affordable for families in our province.”