Ontario Signs On to Federal Child Care Plan, Parents to Get Rebates in May

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, right, shakes hands with Ontario Premier Doug Ford after reaching and agreement in $10-a-day child-care program deal in Brampton, Ont., on March 28, 2022. The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette

The Ontario government has signed a $13.2 billion deal with the federal government to cut child care fees by half before the year’s end and give parents with kids aged five and under a rebate starting in May.

Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the agreement in a joint press conference on March 28, making Ontario the last province to get on board with the federal government’s multi-year plan to bring child care fees down to $10 a day across the country.

In the first step, Ontario parents with children aged five and under attending licensed child care centres will see fees reduced by up to 25 percent, to a minimum of $12 per day, with rebates going out to families next month, retroactive to April 1, 2022.

In December 2022, parents will see another fee reduction. In total, fees will decrease by 50 percent on average for families in 2022.

The fee cuts would amount to an average savings per child of about $6,000 a year by the end of 2022, Trudeau said.

Families will see further fee reductions in September 2024, which ultimately brings child care in Ontario to an average of $10 a day by the following September.

Ford, who will begin a provincial election campaign in the coming weeks, said the agreement is “the right deal for Ontarians.”

“It’s a deal that provides flexibility in how we allocate federal funding, flexibility that is critical for making this deal work for Ontario,” he said.

The six-year child-care program was to include $1 billion for Ontario in year one, which is 2021-22. Since that fiscal year ends in four days, the federal government is allowing them more flexibility to push most of that spending into future years. Ontario is also given more flexibility in allocating the funding, such as to spend the initial $10.2 billion over four years instead of five.

Ontario had wanted more certainty beyond the life of the original five-year deal—though the federal government’s budget last year said funding for the program after the fifth year would be $9 billion annually—and got a commitment of $2.9 billion for year six.

The deal will also create an additional 86,000 child-care spaces for Ontario, which includes more than 15,000 spaces already created since 2019.

The program includes an automatic review in year three to ensure the costs are funded, Ford said.

The Canadian Press contributed to this article.