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Trillium Flower

Ontario secures additional funding for longer agreement with maximum flexibility

Ontario and Canada have signed a $13.2 billion agreement that will lower fees for families and deliver an average of $10 a day child care by September 2025.

Highlights of Ontario’s better deal include:

  • A federal investment of $13.2 billion over six years with the province having secured more certainty around out-year funding. The deal includes an additional year of funding of at least $2.9 billion.
  • The flexibility to allocate federal funding in a way that will allow the province to deliver an average of $10 a day child care, including by spending the initial $10.2 billion over four years instead of five.
  • Enhanced protection against funding shortfalls through a mandated financial review process in year three – the first of its kind in any provincial child care deal – to reconcile the actual costs of the new national child care plan with funding.
  • Reduction of child care fees through four steps of reduction to an average of $10 a day per child five years old and younger by September 2025.
  • Parent rebates, retroactive to April 1, will begin in May.
  • Protection of all for-profit and non-profit child care spaces, helping to support predominantly female entrepreneurs across the province who provide high-quality child care services.
  • Creation of approximately 86,000 new, high-quality child care spaces for children five years old and younger.
  • Hiring new early childhood educators and support improved compensation for all Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECEs) working in licensed child care.
  • Maintain Ontario’s child care tax credit program that supports 300,000 families with expenses in licensed and unlicensed child care.
  • Work with municipalities to enroll 5,000 licensed child care centres and home child care agencies into the program between now and September 1.

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