By Lincoln DePradine

Ontario families — including those in the Black and Caribbean community, with kids in child care — will be paying less for the service under the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system.

Beginning next January, parent fees will be capped at $22 per day for children under the age of six in CWELCC programs.

The $22 per day cap will reduce fees for 44 percent of participants enrolled in CWELCC spaces. That means, families facing the highest fees — often those with the youngest children living in less affordable communities — will receive the largest fee reductions, according to provincial government officials. “This change will result in additional savings of nearly $300 million in 2025 for these families.”

“Our government is determined to make life more affordable for families, that’s why we’re putting more money in their pockets by cutting child care fees even further,” said Todd Smith, who at the time was Ontario’s education minister. “When kids are in child care, they’re able to learn and grow, and their parents are able to enter the workforce with peace of mind.”

The CWELCC is a national program with the federal government that the Province of Ontario signed on to in 2022.

Ontario secured a six-year $13.2-billion commitment from the feds that will lower fees for eligible children to an average of $10-a-day by March 2026.

In addition, the Conservative administration of Premier Doug Ford is introducing what it calls “a new, cost-based funding approach for operators in the CWELCC program”. The new funding approach becomes effective from January 2025.

The Tories have committed themselves to continue working with “the federal government, municipalities and operators to build a sustainable early years and child care system that meets the needs of children, families, and professionals in all communities across the province”.

Smith, on August 16, announced his departure from politics in a statement posted to X.

“After almost 13 years as a Member of Provincial Parliament, and six years in Premier Ford’s cabinet, I have made the very difficult decision to leave politics and accept a position in the private sector,” said Smith.

Smith’s resignation and the cabinet changes have evoked concern from some school officials and criticism from the opposition Liberals and the New Democratic Party (NDP).

“With several serious and time-sensitive issues facing the education sector, it is critical that the new minister’s transition is swift and seamless. It is our hope that the new minister will work with us to address these urgent matters, particularly the concerns surrounding the newly introduced regulations under Bill 98, The Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act,” said Kathleen Woodcock, president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association.

Ontario, said Liberal Party leader Bonnie Crombie, doesn’t “need a new education minister. we need a new government focused on giving more to children, educators, and families, not even more to Ford’s rich friends”.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles called the occurrence within government a crisis.

“That the brand-new education minister and minister in charge of child care abruptly jumps ship with less than three months on the job, the day after an important, long-delayed funding formula announcement for child care and just weeks before school is starting, shows the level of seriousness with which Doug Ford and his politicians take kids and families,” said Stiles.