Thursday’s provincial budget will make child care more affordable for Ontario families by earmarking millions of dollars in new money for fee subsidies, the Star has learned.Finance Minister Charles Sousa and Indira Naidoo-Harris, minister responsible for early years and child care, will outline the government’s five-year child-care spending plan during a pre-budget announcement at the downtown Toronto YMCA Wednesday afternoon.This year’s funding will focus on providing immediate relief to Ontario families struggling with the high cost of child care while the government works with municipalities to expand the system over the coming years, sources told the Star. Child-care advocates were at Queen’s Park Tuesday, urging the government to invest at least $200 million for operating costs and $500 million to build new spaces to kick-start last year’s pledge to create 100,000 licensed spots over the next five years. “We have a child-care crisis here in Ontario — we have the highest child-care fees in the country, spaces for only one-quarter of kids, and early childhood educators’ wages and working conditions are far too paltry for the professional and vital work that they do in our communities,” said Carolyn Ferns of the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care.“We are expecting big things from this Ontario budget and we’re expecting (Premier) Kathleen Wynne to finally deliver on her child-care promises.”While about 15,400 children wait for daycare subsidies in Toronto, more than 4,000 spaces are vacant because parents can’t afford fees that run as high as $20,000 a year.“Child care cannot wait,” said Ferns, who is expecting her first child — due in June — and already looking at a one- to two-year waitlist for daycare.The government’s five-year plan aims to double the number of spaces for children under age 4 so that 40 per cent of infants, todd ...
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