Hoping for $10-a-day child care? Here’s how many Toronto daycares opted in to the federal program
Toronto daycares might get more than 10¢ an hour, but only if they opt into the federal child care subsidy program.
After receiving tips from various sources, we asked seven daycares for their experience with the subsidized program.
Seven daycares reported that parents could get a $10-a-day subsidy for the first child under three years old. The subsidy, in effect, is a monthly payment received after the first year of a child’s enrolment.
This is similar to the Quebec Child Care Tax Credit program, which gives a $2-a-month subsidy for a child up to age 5.
Parents who want to know more about the program can contact the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services.
Seven Toronto daycare providers were contacted for this story. There are at least seven other publicly-run daycares that also received subsidies. All of the other daycares we’ve checked, including those that declined to comment, will be identified by a letter to the reader at the end of this story.
The subsidies were offered to children on the Child Care Benefit Plan (CCBP) and the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) plans. The province and territory are required by law to offer subsidies on these plans for all young children.
Parents have to pay for the subsidized care themselves — either by themselves or with government support or subsidies, such as tax credits, for example.
Provincial or territory-run daycares do not qualify for government funding for the subsidized program because they are private companies, so no one can get a subsidy for the children in their care.
“Our goal was to keep as many children as possible. We are in a business so we try to keep as many children as we can,” said Kelli Fenton, a provider at the E-Tail daycare located in North York.
We requested that a parent with a child on the subsidized program write us anonymously to share his or her experience without identifying the daycare.
E-Tail owner Kelli Fenton says there are a limited number of subsidized