Question Period Note: ONTARIO MUNICIPAL FUNDING REDUCTIONS

The Regional Municipality of Halton, located in the southwest part of the Greater Toronto Area, is calling on the Ontario government to provide additional funding to address their child care needs

The Government of Canada made a transformative investment of more than $27 billion over five years to build a Canada-wide early learning and child care system with provinces and territories.

Our goal is to increase access to high quality, affordable, and flexible child care for families everywhere in Canada.

The administration of child care systems is the responsibility of the provinces and territories. The Government of Canada is committed to respecting provincial and territorial jurisdiction in this space.

IF PRESSED ON HALTON

The detailed implementation of the Canada-Ontario Canada-wide ELCC Agreement, including the allocation of child care spaces and funding to municipalities, is a matter of provincial jurisdiction.

Any further inquiries should be directed to the Ontario Ministry of Education.

To increase access to affordable child care spaces, under the Canada-Ontario Canada-wide ELCC Agreement, the Government of Ontario has committed to creating 86,000 new licensed child care spaces, by December 31, 2026.

The Government of Ontario provides funding to Consolidated Municipal Service Managers (CMSMs) and District Social Services Administration Boards (DSSABs), also known as Service System Managers (SSMs) to manage early learning and child care services, including overseeing the creation of new spaces. The Government of Canada does not work directly with municipalities on the implementation of the Canada-wide ELCC system.

The Ontario Ministry of Education provided SSMs with an initial space allocation in December 2022, based on the availability of licensed child care.

Subsequently on May 24, 2023, the Ontario Ministry of Education released the 2023 Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) System Update to allocate spaces based on those that participate in the Canada-wide system.

The Canada-wide funding for the municipality of Halton decreased by from $132.4M in December 2022 to $125M in May 2023, reflecting mostly a lower number of child care providers who are participating in the Canada-wide system.

In June 2023, the Government of Ontario released a new access and inclusion framework, which provides additional details on space creation.

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