How intense pressure from for-profit daycares has transformed Ontario’s rollout of $10-a-day child care — and sparked a political standoff — into a rare crossroads for the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives, who are vying to take control of the premier’s office in the fall.
On May 4, Premier Kathleen Wynne introduced a bill to make Ontario the first province in Canada to offer a full universal child care benefit for all children aged up to six.
That the move will force a government shutdown and a political battle will be a major boon for anyone who has been paying attention to Ontario political news since 2014.
While not a surprise, the announcement that Ontario would introduce a universal child care benefit was not exactly what was expected. What was, was a surprise.
For all the news coverage of Wynne’s move and the government’s response, there’s plenty of debate about how and why Wynne chose to make $10 per day — which is the minimum wage for Ontario workers — mandatory and how it will affect low-income workers.
The government’s response, or lack thereof, has been widely panned as weak. But it’s just as widely seen as a victory for the NDP.
For supporters of the NDP’s child care plan, the Liberals’ decision to impose $10-a-day daycares for all children aged up to six is no small feat.
For supporters of the Liberals’ child care plan, the NDP’s decision to impose $10-a-day daycares for all children aged up to six is no small feat.
For supporters of both Wynne’s and the NDP’s child care plans, it’s a significant defeat for the Liberals and the NDP.
The Liberals’ child care plan is widely seen as the best response to an NDP-created childcare crisis — one that has been created by the provincial government in response to its low-income housing and child care crisis.
The Liberals have sought to make $10-a-day daycares the norm for children for at least three decades. The NDP’s plan would make them the norm for children as young as three, even though the current Liberals have been