Ontario and the federal government have reached a new four-year agreement to extend the national affordable child-care program in the province.
The agreement provides funding through at least 2031, offering longer-term certainty for child-care operators and families after Ontario was one of two provinces that had not yet reached a deal extending the program beyond its initial five years.
However, the new agreement does not promise further reductions in the fees parents pay.
The national program was launched with a goal of bringing average child-care fees down to $10 a day. In Ontario, fees currently average about $19 a day and are capped at $22.
Under the new agreement, Ontario has committed to maintaining those fee levels until June 30, 2027.
What happens with fees after that date remains subject to further discussions.
The agreement includes $12 billion in federal funding for Ontario.
The province will also receive its share of an additional $5.4 billion for the national child-care program announced by the federal government earlier this year.
Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra said the additional funding addresses what he described as a shortfall in the program’s finances and will help maintain current fee levels in the short term.
Calandra said further reductions in fees would require additional federal funding.
Under the original agreement, Ontario was expected to create 86,000 affordable child-care spaces by this year.
The province has so far created just under 60,000.
