$10-a-day child-care program at risk in Ontario without more funding, Toronto operator warns

A Toronto child-care operator says the $10-a-day daycare program is at risk of collapsing in Ontario if the provincial and federal governments don't come through with a sustainable funding agreement soon.

Danielle Wittick is the director of programming forNyad Community Inc, which runs seven non-profit child-care centres in Scarborough schools. The organization signed on to the national agreement in March 2022 and immediately froze its fees, which was mandated by the terms of the deal.Eventually fees for infant care were cut by roughly 50 per cent, with the Ontariogovernment replacing that lost revenue with money sent to the provinces and territoriesby Ottawa.

But as the costs of runningthe centres have gone up, the province's revenue replacement funding has stayed at nearly the same level as 2022, resulting insignificant deficits for many child-care operators. Throughout last year and up to today, the gap in funding amountedto $5 per day, per spot for infant care at Nyad's facilities, Wittick told CBC Radio'sMetro MorningTuesday.

"Which, over the course of the year, has left us in a huge deficit in all seven of our centres," she said. "We are hoping a deal will come soon and we can start paying off all this debt we are in. There are a lot of unknowns."

Wittick'sconcerns about the future of the $10-a-day program come after the YMCA, which is responsible for one-fifth of all licensed child-care spots in the province, madea public plea for more funding. The Canadian Press reported Monday that in a pre-budget submission to the province, the YMCA wrote that the current flow of money has left"many non-profit operators with deficits and uncertain outlooks."

As operators find themselves in financial straits, the province is seeking to significantly increase the number of child-care spaces in Ontario.When Ontario signed on to the program in 2022 it committed to creating 86,000 additional spots.

Ontario could lose child-care spaces, advocate says

Morna Ballantyne, executive director ofChild Care Now, a group that advocates for publicly funded child care, said the province could see fewer spots open if more money doesn't flow to operators struggling with higher costs.

"Operators are saying we can't do it anymore. And the fear is that programs will shut down, particularly the more expensive programs like those for infants, for children under 18 months," she told CBC Radio'sOttawa MorningTuesday.

"Unfortunately I do think we are going to see the loss of child care spaces at a time when we desperately need expansion," Ballantynesaid.

Both the Ontario and federal governments are responsible for ensuring there is sufficient funding to keep child-care operators financially viable. While there are "big questions" about whether the federal commitment will be enough moving forward,Ballantyne said the province bears much of the blame for the current situation.

"The provincial government is really at fault here. It is not transferring the funds that are required to the municipal service managers, therefore making it very difficult for them to pass on proper levels of funding to the frontline operators," she said.

Ballantyne said she believes there is a "huge problem with accountability" in how the program is being delivered.

"From the point of view of an advocate and a member of the public, it is extremely difficult to track the money. We don't actually know how all the federal dollars are being spent by the government of Ontario and that's a really big problem."

In a statement, a spokesperson for Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the province plans to push for more money from the federal government.

"While Ontario will continue to increase funding annually to operators, starting this month, we will commence a review of the federal deal and vigorously advocate for a long-term increase in funding to better support operators and families," the statement said.

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Child-care centres across the country are so short-staffed that they have serious doubts that the national $10/day child-care program's expansion plans will be viable.

Additional money and a clear picture of how the program will work moving forward can't come soon enough, Wittick said.

"It is a wonderful agreement for our parents. But we ran to the finish line way too fast. There was no funding formula in place," she said.

"We quickly cut fees but there was nothing to support the centres while cutting these fees. And now we've dug ourselves a gigantic hole and I don't know how we are going to get out of this."