Prime Minister Justin Trinto and Prime Minister Doug Ford formally announced the details of the deal at a news conference in Brampton on Monday morning. In a press release, the provincial government said the deal would result in an average of $ 10 a day in childcare by September 2025. Ontario is the latest province to sign an agreement with Ottawa as part of Trinto’s $ 30 billion national childcare program. Their deal is valued at $ 13.2 billion over six years, in contrast to the five-year deal agreed by every other province and region. It should be noted, however, that the federal government’s 2021 budget had already indicated that funding for the national program after the initial five years would be $ 9 billion a year. “We know that children deserve the best start in life. Parents, especially moms, do not have to choose between family or career,” Trinto said. “A year ago, we said we would create a national system to make childcare more accessible and accessible across Canada. Today, we continue to live up to that promise.” Also, because the agreement was signed before the end of the Canadian government’s fiscal year (March 31), the initial investment of $ 10.2 billion can be carried over to four years instead of five. Federal officials had previously told CTV News Toronto that more than $ 1 billion in funding promised to the county for fiscal year 2021-2022 could “expire” if no agreement is reached by the end of this month. A review mechanism is also set in the third year of the deal – something the provincial government says is unique to Ontario – that will allow the province to ask for more money in the event of a shortage. The first step in the deal will see fees reduced by up to 25 percent to at least $ 12 per day for all Ontario families with children under the age of five and participating in licensed childcare centers, retrospectively by April 1, 2022. That means that the parent discounts retroactively up to that date will be delivered in May. Parents will see another cut in December, resulting in an average of 50 per cent cuts in childcare costs by 2022, the province said. Fees will be reduced again in September 2024 and will reach $ 10 per day for childcare by September 2025. The agreement will also provide for the creation of 86,000 childcare facilities, 15,000 of which have already been operational since 2019. Nunavut was the last to sign the federal childcare agreement before Ontario and finalized their agreement in late January. At the time, Ford said the province was “very, very close” to writing a deal. “It’s very good for Ontario parents and the right deal for Ontarians,” Ford said Monday. “It’s an agreement that provides flexibility in how federal funding is distributed, a flexibility that was crucial to running this program in Ontario.” Alberta joined in November, New Brunswick and the Northwest Territories in December, and seven other counties, and the Yukon signed in July and August, ahead of federal elections. Asked if other jurisdictions that had already signed the national plan had received a “bad deal” over Ontario’s $ 13.2 billion valuation over six years, Trinto said each province and region had signed “the same quality agreement”. . “Our focus is on respecting and understanding that each province has a different system that comes into this agreement and that requires different levels of flexibility,” Trinto explained. “Ontario, for example, wanted to sign the agreement for the sixth year and we were happy to sign it. “The Ontario allocation was $ 10.2 billion, as we estimated almost a year ago, and that’s exactly the deal,” he said. With files from the Canadian Press
