Family advocate welcomes Ontario's new child care plan

An Ottawa family advocate is applauding the Ontario government's pledge to spend $1.6 billion to improve daycare services across the province.

The government announced Tuesday it's creating 45,000 licensed child care spaces.

"The strategy's in place. The accountability framework's in place. The work plan's in place. So it looks like there's actually going to be some immediate attention and some immediate results," Nora Spinks, CEO of Ottawa's Vanier Institute of the Family, told host Hallie Cotnam on CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning.

"More children will have access to care. It will provide more subsidies to families, so more families can access regulated care. And it will provide more support for the professional staff that's providing the care."

Move toward universal child care

At an announcement this week, the minister responsible for early years and child care, Indira Naidoo-Harris, said the plan will set Ontario "on a path towards a universally accessible child care system."

Spinks believes the province is moving in that direction. "This particular move is much more strategic than in past history," she said. 

"So not only are they looking at putting dollars to it, but they've identified a minister responsible for early learning and child care, so there's somebody who's going to be held accountable. And so there's a plan to start receiving those applications for those funds in the coming months."

Affordability is a key factor at the heart of the child care issue, with the annual cost for children under five averaging up to $20,000 a year, according to Spinks. She hopes the new plan will get families the subsidies they need.

"It used to be that one basic income could fulfil all the expenses of a typical family. Now you need at least two or more incomes if you look at the cost of housing, the cost of transportation, the cost of child care," she said.

Future benefits

"And so whenever you can reduce one of those major expenses — for some people, they're spending as much on child care as they are on rent or on mortgage. It's a short term expense, but it's a huge return on investment over time. Kids who have a really healthy, stable, stress-free early learning experience, they're going to reap those benefits throughout their childhood."

Spinks believes this major investment now will benefit future generations in the province.

"We all have a collective benefit in investing in our children. Whether I personally have children today, or whether my children are grown and gone and moved on, or whether I've chosen never to actually have children of my own. I'm going to live in a society that is going to require skills and talents and services provided by others," she said.

"It's in my best interests to make sure that kids today are getting the right start in life and the right education and the right environment so I have access to services down the road."