Toronto Mayor John Tory is urging Ontario’s government to reverse what he calls “unilateral, retroactive” cuts to child-care funding, which he says will hurt families and strain the province’s labour market.
Tory has sent a letter to each of the 11 Progressive Conservative MPPs who represent ridings in his city, asking them to request that Education Minister Lisa Thompson reverse the changes.
He says the cuts will result in a nearly $85-million reduction to the city’s child-care budget and the cancellation of 6,166 subsidies for families who can’t afford child care on their own.
The province told child-care centres in mid-April it would be shutting down a fund that helped operators cover increasing labour costs without passing on those costs to parents.
A memo from the government told operators that funding ended as of March 31, and any money that flowed to operators after that date would be “recovered.”
In a news release Saturday, Tory says the province’s move will force more new parents to stay home, putting strain on the social safety net and the labour market.