萌妹社区

News & Stories: Policy Monitor

May 31, 2022

Excerpt: "Ontario values the important role of child care and early years professionals. Since 2015, Ontario has supported recruitment and retention of RECEs in child care through the Ontario Wage Enhancement Grant. In 2021, Ontario invested $203 million to help attract and retain RECEs within Ontario's child care system and support access to stable, high quality child care programs."
July 25, 2022

Excerpt: "After two years of pandemic disruptions, Ontario today launched its Plan to Catch Up for the 2022-23 school year. The plan, which is supported by the government鈥檚 historic investments in education, starts with students back in classrooms, on time, with the full school experience including extracurriculars like clubs, band and field trips. 鈥淥ur government is looking ahead as we remain squarely focused on ensuring students receive the best stable learning experience possible, and that starts with them being in class, on time, with all of the experiences students deserve,鈥 said Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education. 鈥淲e have a plan for students to catch up, including the largest tutoring program in Ontario鈥檚 history, a modernized skills-focused curriculum to prepare students for the jobs of tomorrow, and enhanced mental health supports.鈥"
August 31, 2022

Excerpt: "This addendum to the Ontario Child Care and EarlyON Child and Family Centres Service Management and Funding Guideline (2022) (鈥淐WELCC Guidelines鈥) will provide CMSMs/DSSABs with information on recent changes arising from the new investments through the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) Agreement."
August 9, 2022

Excerpt: "Parents of young children will soon see the cost of daycare drop dramatically with the province having negotiated a fair child-care deal with the federal government."
November 14, 2022

Excerpt: "To expand child care, Ontario is partnering with the federal government to create 86,000 new, high鈥恞uality, affordable child care spaces by 2026. Of this total, Ontario has already created more than 15,000 new spaces, including over 1,500 new licensed child care spaces in schools."
November 14, 2022

Description: "This report analyzes the Ministry of Education鈥檚 spending plan as set out in the 2022 Ontario Budget and the 2022-23 Expenditure Estimates. The report discusses the FAO鈥檚 spending projection by program area and identifies key assumptions, issues and risks. The final chapter of the report compares planned spending for the 2022-23 fiscal year against actual spending in 2021-22."
December 5, 2022

Excerpt: "Total investments from the Government of Ontario and the Government of Canada in the child care and early years program will total more than $3.9B in 2023. Funding will support the implementation of fee reductions, workforce supports, and other measures. This investment represents an increase of $1.28B, or 44%, over the 2022 calendar year. This investment also includes an additional $24M from the renewed Canada-Ontario Early Learning and Child Care Agreement to support child care and early years program delivery. A one-time transitional grant of $85.5M is also included to help offset and assist with the impact of administrative funding changes and provide stability to the sector as the ministry continues its work on the development of the new child care funding formula."
December 19, 2022

Excerpt: "To date, 92 per cent of Ontario鈥檚 licensed child care sites have enrolled in the CWELCC system. Families across the province with children in these centres are already seeing fee reductions of up to 25 per cent, retroactive to April 1, 2022. By the end of this year, families with children under the age of six in participating licensed child care programs will see a further fee reduction of up to 50 per cent relative to 2020 levels."
January 1, 2023

Excerpt: "Updated: Workforce compensation funding will be provided to offset wage increases for non-RECE staff associated with the increased minimum wage that came into effect October 1, 2022; Clarified: Funding will be provided to support a $1/hour annual increase for RECE staff whose hourly wage, including the wage enhancement grant (WEG), is at or above the wage floor for the year, to a cap of $25/hour; Added: Examples to illustrate the calculation of workforce compensation for the 2023 wage floor and the annual $1 increase, including accounting for those whose wages that fall between $24.01-$24.99/hour; who will receive a top up to their wages to reach the $25/hour cap; Clarified: Licensees may increase wages beyond the $1/hour annual increase; however, CWELCC workforce compensation funding may only be used to fund the incremental amount required to bring RECE staff wages to the wage floor and for up to $1/hour wage increase."
March 23, 2023

Excerpt: "Ontario continues to work with municipalities and other partners to create 86,000 new, high鈥恞uality child care spaces by December 2026. To support this, the government launched a $213 million grant program for new and existing operators to help offset the costs of expanding or creating spaces such as purchasing equipment or renovating facilities. By providing startup grants, the government is helping to create new child care spaces for communities that need them the most."
March 28, 2023

Excerpt: "For licensed child care sites enrolled in the Canada-wide early learning and child care system, the Canada-Ontario agreement initially reduced licensed child care fees for children under the age of six by 25%, retroactive to April 1,2022. By the end of 2022, fees in participating licensed child care programs were further lowered, resulting in a total reduction of 50% on average compared to 2020 levels. This could save Ontario families an average of $6,000 to $10,000 per child per year moving forward, based on provincial savings scenarios."
March 31, 2023

Excerpt: "The purpose of this discussion paper is to provide further information for service system managers and child care licensees, and to invite feedback as the Ministry of Education continues to design and develop the 2024 Canada-wide Early Learning Child Care (CWELCC) funding formula. Your feedback on this discussion paper will be vital to help the Ministry of Education refine the CWELCC funding formula which will support the child care sector and in turn help Ontario鈥檚 families access affordable child care. Additional details will be provided later about elements such as special needs resourcing. The discussion paper includes an overview of the proposed grant allocations, formulas (where they have been developed) and other criteria and parameters to calculate Consolidated Municipal Service Manager (CMSM) and District Social Services Administration Board (DSSAB) calendar year funding allocations for the CWELCC system."