Parents and educators urge Ford to sign new federal child care agreement, in light of Auditor-General's report

Community provides Roadmap to solving issues identified in Auditor’s report

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care (OCBCC) is welcoming a new report from Ontario’s Auditor-General, which calls on the Ford government to fix gaps in the early learning and child care system, including improving equitable access and workforce development. The report highlights the growing challenges facing Ontario's $10-a-Day child care program - and signals the urgency of implementing a comprehensive strategy, like that outlined in the coalition’s recently released Roadmap to Universal Child Care in Ontario.

The report comes as Ontario and the federal government are currently negotiating a 5-year renewal of the Canada-Ontario child care agreement, which is set to expire in March 2026. Without this renewal, more families will be locked out of accessible child care as the funding shortfall widens.

“The Auditor-General’s report shows that the $10-a-Day plan is transforming Ontario’s child care system for the better. It also provides serious analysis of the problems in Ontario’s implementation of $10-a-Day. The Ford government says that they accept the Auditor’s recommendations, but without a new agreement, we could lose the precious progress that has been made and never be able to fix the gaps. The clock is ticking,” said Carolyn Ferns, Policy Coordinator of the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care.

Among the Auditor’s findings is the revelation that Ontario is now short 10,000 Registered Early Childhood Educators and is not effectively monitoring the impact of the Ministry of Education’s current workforce strategy on recruitment and retention.

“Today’s report should be a wake-up call that Ontario should measurably improve wages, benefits and pensions for the early learning and child care workforce. We’re seeing the impact that this is having in other provinces, and Ontario educators deserve no less. We won’t improve access to child care until we improve decent work and pay for those providing the care,” said Amber Straker, Executive Director of the Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario (AECEO).

The OCBCC and AECEO recently released the Roadmap to Universal Child Care in Ontario, which assesses Ontario’s progress and provides a concrete plan to achieve $10-a-Day for all. Nearly 500 supporters have already sent emails to Ford urging the provincial government to follow the Roadmap.

Increasing access for low-income families is a key issue addressed in both the Auditor-General’s report and in the community’s Roadmap.

“The Auditor-General found that access has decreased for low-income families. Our Roadmap provides the solution: Ontario should immediately remove barriers, like work and study criteria, to accessing fee subsidy. As quickly as possible, Ontario should move to a no-barrier sliding fee scale, where child care is seen as a right, not a restrictive welfare service,” said Ferns.

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