The forthcoming fee cuts are part of a six-year, $ 13.2 billion deal with the federal government to subsidize the cost of childcare.
Ontario is the last province or region to sign the national agreement, which aims to further reduce fees by an average of $ 10 a day by September 2025.
The agreements with other provinces and territories provided that the money would be spent over a period of five years.
However, because the Ontario agreement was reached a few days before the end of the financial year, the province was given the opportunity to defer the first funding year to the second year of the agreement.
This means that parents with children in daycare will essentially have to wait at least three months longer for fee relief from their counterparts in other provinces, most of which have reduced fees by at least 25 per cent retroactively from 1 January.
In Ontario the fee reduction will be retroactive until April 1, with discounts for parents expected to begin in May.
“This means that Canadians, all Canadians and Canadian families from coast to coast will benefit from quality early learning and affordable, affordable childcare, which is a historic moment for parents, children, families, but also for businesses across the country, “said Prime Minister Justin Trinto during a press conference at the YMCA in Brampton on Monday morning.  “We know the economic growth that unlocks when moms no longer have to choose between starting a family or pursuing a career.  It is a benefit not only for the families, not only for the children, but for all of us “.
Ontario ended up receiving the same $ 10.2 billion in five-year funding offered at the start of negotiations with the federal government, an amount that Education Minister Stephen Lecce had previously argued would not be enough to cut fees by an average. condition at $ 10 a day.
However, federal authorities have made it clear that the province will receive an additional $ 2.9 billion in the sixth year of the agreement.
The Trinto government has always said it would provide $ 9.2 billion in ongoing funding to keep childcare costs low after 2025, but has not made any specific commitments in individual agreements with other provinces and territories, as it did with Ontario.
The other unique aspect of the agreement with Ontario is what the province calls a “mandatory financial review process” after the third year, which could adjust funding levels if costs turn out to be higher than expected.
In the news release, Lecce said that “with a firm stance” Ontario was able to secure a “better deal” that “includes billions in additional funding and a bigger deal”.
But it comes at the expense of a late discount for parents who already have children in childcare.
Saskatchewan, for example, has cut fees by 50 percent since November and also plans to issue parental rebate checks retrospectively last July.
The Ontario government says it will work with municipalities to enroll more than 5,000 licensed child care centers and home care services in the province in the new program from now until September.  He says that the discounts, with retroactive effect from April 1, will “follow the registration” of the centers and institutions in the new system.
In addition to the two 25 percent fee reductions planned for 2022, the county says there will also be further unspecified fee reductions in September 2024 en route to reaching the $ 10 per day target in 2025.