The general operating funding to child care programs, which is a provincial responsibility, is lower this year than it was in 2018, even before adjusting for record-high inflation.

Without dependable operating funding that increases with the cost of living, and without immediate action, more families like the ones with us today will be without affordable child care.

Families from Ola Daycare have been left scrambling. Their choice is to pay hundreds of dollars more each month or lose their child care spots.

Will the minister commit to, at the very least, increased funding to keep pace with inflation so operators don’t leave the program?

Families from Ola Daycare in my riding are in the House today. They are facing a $800-to-$900-per-child increase in the cost of their child care, because the operator had to withdraw from the $10-a-day child care program due to this Conservative government’s poor implementation. It has been two years since the agreement was signed with the federal government, and Ontario still does not have a funding formula in place. Child care centres simply cannot operate with this kind of unpredictability.

Where is the funding formula you promised?

My question is to the Minister of Education. Due to a shortage of early childhood educators, the High Park YMCA, in my riding, is being forced to suspend its infant care program starting in January. This has left many families scrambling for alternatives on very short notice. The staffing crisis in the childhood sector, driven by low wages, is a problem this government has been warned about for years. Now, we’re seeing exactly what we feared would happen: desperately needed affordable child care spaces closing.

Speaker, families in High Park want to know: What actions will the minister take to ensure that the infant program at High Park YMCA can continue?

My question is to the Premier.

While families across the province are waiting for $10-a-day child care, this government’s low-wage policies threaten the program. Already, child care centres across Ontario are having to close rooms and limit enrolment due to staffing challenges. Families are on wait-lists that are growing.

Experts have said that Ontario needs another 65,000 ECEs and child care staff by 2026.

The Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario has urged this government to implement a province-wide salary scale for registered ECEs and child care staff to address staffing issues. Why is the government refusing to do so?

The average ECE in Ontario spends just three years working in the sector. Ontario will not be able to offer $10-a-day child care without child care workers.

The Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care says that none of the strategies the government has put on the table will work until we deal with the low wages.

Will the minister listen to the experts and take action to address the staffing shortage by paying child care workers fair wages?

This petition is entitled “Stand Up for Early Years and Child Care Workers.” It reads, “To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas child care centres across the province are closing rooms and limiting enrolment because they cannot retain staff in their programs; and

“Whereas child care experts and advocates estimate Ontario may need as many as 65,000 new child care workers to meet the expected demand for $10-a-day child care; and

“Whereas without a strategy to recruit and retain child care workers through setting a salary scale, increasing wages, and implementing decent work standards, parents will lose access to affordable child care; and

“Whereas early years and child care workers have long been overlooked in child care policy-making discussions; and

“Whereas the vitally important work of early years and child care workers has been historically undervalued, with low pay, poor working conditions, and high turnover;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to immediately establish an Early Years and Child Care Worker Advisory Commission to develop recommendations on how to support the early years and child care workforce and address staffing shortages, including through a salary scale, increased compensation and improved working conditions.”

I fully support this petition. I have tabled a bill for this and I call on the government to take action.

According to the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, the province will need at least 65,000 new child care staff over the coming years to meet the expected demand for $10-a-day child care. Sixty-five thousand child care staff is an enormous number. To get anywhere close to that will require a long-term strategy to retain and recruit child care workers. Without a strategy, parents and families will lose access to $10-a-day child care.

My question to the Premier is, where is that strategy?

I want to remind the minister that in section 4.2 of the child care agreement that he refers to, Ontario committed to consulting on a comprehensive recruitment and retention plan for child care workers this past summer.

I have tabled a bill to start addressing the child care workforce crisis by ensuring that the solutions put forward by workers and advocates are listened to.

My question to you, Minister: Will you listen to child care workers?

My question is to the Premier. Ontario has a child care workforce crisis. In the last month, child care centres in Sault Ste. Marie, Sarnia and on Manitoulin Island have closed because they couldn’t find enough qualified child care staff. Ontario doesn’t even have enough workers to operate the spaces we have now, let alone the 71,000 new spaces this government has promised.

Speaker, child care workers have been clear that they need higher wages, a salary scale and decent work standards to stabilize the workforce.

Will the government consult with child care workers and do what’s needed to solve this crisis?