NDP: Ford government keeping parents stuck at the status quo on child care

QUEEN’S PARK — Ontario NDP MPP Teresa Armstrong (London—Fanshawe), Shadow Minister with responsibility for Child Care and Pensions, is calling on Doug Ford to keep his promise to families and deliver on $10-a-day child care.

“Families were promised $10-a-day child care,” said Armstrong. “Instead, they’re still paying nearly double that, while the Ford government keeps things stuck at the status quo and calls it progress. Parents deserve better.”

The Ford government’s one-year extension of the Canada–Ontario Early Learning and Child Care Agreement freezes fees at an average of $19 a day and fails to address the staffing crisis that’s left more than 10,000 Early Childhood Educators missing from the system.

“This extension doesn’t move Ontario any closer to real affordability or access,” said Armstrong. “ECEs are underpaid and overworked, and families can’t find spaces. The government’s failure to invest in the workforce and create new spaces is putting the entire system at risk.”

Armstrong said families need a plan that actually delivers public, high-quality, accessible, and not-for-profit child care that values the educators who make it possible.

“Ontario families are tired of delays and broken promises,” said Armstrong. “Doug Ford needs to stop stalling and deliver the affordable, not-for-profit child care system families were promised.”