Ontario has recently announced that early childhood educators (ECE) in most licensed child-care centers will receive a wage increase of $23.86 per hour next year, instead of the previously planned $20. This is a significant step towards addressing the shortage of ECEs, which has hindered the growth of the national $10-a-day program.
The shortage of ECEs has been a major obstacle for the program’s advocates. Many centers have had to close down due to a lack of staff. To combat this problem, Education Minister Stephen Lecce released a childcare workforce strategy in November, which includes the wage increase. The government hopes this will make Ontario’s starting wages for ECEs the highest in Canada.
According to ministry officials, Ontario may be short of 8,500 ECEs by 2026, which is when the province aims to create 86,000 new spaces under the national child-care system. The province agreed to set a wage floor of $18 an hour in 2022 under the agreement it signed with the federal government in joining the national $10-a-day program. The wage floor will rise to $23.86 per hour next year under Lecce’s new strategy and will continue to rise by $1 per hour each year, up to $25.86 in 2026.
The Canadian government is committed to providing high-quality, affordable, and flexible early learning and childcare for all families, regardless of where they live. To make childcare more affordable, fees for childcare centers have already been cut by 50% for families with children in 92% of licensed centers and home daycares. The fees are set to be lowered even further to an average of $10 a day by 2026.
It’s important to note that these targets are applicable everywhere outside of Quebec, where an affordable and well-established early learning and childcare system already exists. Nearly half of all provinces and territories already have an average of $10-a-day (or less) regulated childcare.
Affordable and high-quality childcare is crucial for the future of children and promotes greater gender equality by enabling more parents, particularly mothers, to participate in the workforce and achieve greater economic security. High-quality childcare will drive Canada’s economy, allow more women to enter the workforce, and give every child in Canada the best start in life.
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