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Coronavirus: Ontario orders closed child care centres to stop collecting payments, protects spaces

Click to play video: 'Ontario order prevents daycare centres from charging parents during mandatory closures'
Ontario order prevents daycare centres from charging parents during mandatory closures
WATCH ABOVE: A new order signed by Premier Doug Ford is preventing daycare centres from charging parents fees or payments while closed. As Erica Vella reports, the order also preserves a child’s spot in a daycare centre – Apr 10, 2020

The Ontario government has ordered child care centres to stop collection payments from parents while the facilities are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The emergency order, which also temporarily protects the spaces of children, was announced Friday afternoon.

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“COVID-19 has imposed significant financial pressure on working parents,” Education Minister Stephen Lecce said in a statement.

READ MORE: Ontario government to open child care centres for frontline workers

As for private-sector child care providers, the government encouraged those businesses and operators to apply for the federal government’s emergency benefits.

A government spokesperson said the order went into effect on Thursday and is not retroactive.

In March, all child care centres except for certain home-based providers and those providing services to health care and frontline workers were ordered to be closed under an emergency order.

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