Windsor residents react to Ontario Liberal's free daycare pitch
The program would begin in 2020 and cost $930M
If the Ontario Liberals are re-elected in June, they want full-day daycare to be free.
Premier Kathleen Wynne made the announcement Tuesday, saying daycare would be free for children aged 2-and-a-half until they are eligible for kindergarten.
The program would begin in 2020 and come at a cost of $930 million to the province. The move is part of a larger, "historic" $2.2-billion investment to expand access to licensed childcare for families.
- Ontario Liberal budget to include free daycare for preschool children
- Study says Windsor has the lowest preschool child care costs in Ontario
- Windsor-Essex Catholic school board adding 209 more daycare spaces with provincial funding
Ashley Mantha has a four-year-old and an eight-month-old, and works at Tim Hortons. She said having free child care would take the stress out of whether or not she'd be subsidized based on her income.
Mantha said when her oldest was in daycare, she was on maternity leave, so she received no subsidization. "So, for half a day I was paying $30," she said. "Which was crazy."
She said she'd be willing to pay a little extra in taxes for this kind of child care deal.
"It does help a lot of people, and you want your kids in good care," she said.
Alisha Zavitz has two children, aged three-and-a-half and 19 months. She said free child care wouldn't make a difference to her because she stays at home with her children and her husband works from home.
The biggest issue she's heard from friends is how difficult it can be to find a spot for a child in any daycare, as well as some of the age restrictions in some daycares.
Working to pay for daycare
Nicole Scherle has a 10-month-old. She said free daycare is a great idea.
"You end up going to work to pay for daycare," she said.
Rita Taylor has seven children ranging from three to 23 years old. She considers the Liberal's pitch a "good idea".
"A lot of my friends and myself choose our careers based on childcare. A lot of moms stay home because half their paychecks go to childcare."
She said she chose to be self-employed because there was no way the family could afford to have both parents work with that many children in daycare.