This looks very serious and a bit scary for some of us who are not licensed.
What are your thoughts on this and do you think it will go through?
This looks very serious and a bit scary for some of us who are not licensed.
What are your thoughts on this and do you think it will go through?
Hi Rose, It does sound scary. I really don't know what to think. There is no way it could be 'free' the money has to come from somewhere. I hope enough people realize this and seems to me like a last ditch attempt to win votes just 2 months before an election.
I read this yesterday too and my initial reaction was like yours. As you know, once one province makes changes, it's not long before it ripples through.
Then I thought more about it.
There is a demand for unregulated/unregistered homes in most provinces. We know that because we exist. Most provinces have a higher number of unregulated/unregistered/private day homes than licensed/approved/whatever your provincial equivalent is.
Much like Quebec, who has a set rate for child care, and who are flagged as being the ideal in terms of parental costs, there remains the demand for private day homes too. Simply, there are always more children than regulated spaces because if that was false, then there wouldn't be the requirement for the private day homes.
Nova Scotia (or maybe it was New Brunswick) had a big change last year with pre-primary being offered without charge to every child age 4 with a roll out of that over a few years and I believe that hasn't had the impact yet that the provider's were worried about.
I think this is going to be one of the situations where we have to wait and see.
LMK..I know it would be great if people would read between the lines before they vote for her,but unfortunately this is a very good bait for all the people with small children who would do anything to save some money on day cares..
She found a great way to maniputale the situation and win.. In Quebec was something like $7/day,but the government would reimburse the day care centres for the rest...Here,she is proposing something totally different and only for the licensed centres and day cares...This government really wants to get rid of private businesses for they do not have much use of us..
I think this is going to be one of the situations where we have to wait and see.[/QUOTE]
Susie_Homemaker- I think that too! At least there is still some time before it gets official.
:unsure:
Rose1.. You are right about not having any use for us!
I attended a number of meetings with the MOE, the agency sector, municipality reps and lobbyists. I can say with some confidence that home daycare (licensed or not) is not in the Liberal's long term vision. Their preference is to have centres in schools and treat those places as community hubs. Everyone in the same childcare setting and under their control, from toddlerhood onward. We absolutely do not factor into their vision. They want a nanny state. Frankly, so do the NDPs. Either of those parties getting in will be catastrophic.
Doug Ford has said he likes Patrick Brown's original idea of paying 75% of childcare fees back to families. While he may not have been the first choice of many of us, he is fond of leaving small businesses alone. This DOES include us. He's way ahead in the polls, so it's looking good! In addition, the PCs are reaching out to us (CICPO) and asking for our recommendations. Of course, we want to secure our position in the future, so what we say now counts.
What would you like to see in place to lend credibility, longevity and the permanent inclusion of our sector in the infrastructure?
And for the record, Wynne's being mocked off the internet. Not many people are buying her 11th hour Hail Mary. Polls on the subject indicate around an 80% disapproval rate on this topic alone.
Unfortunately, I can see people arguing Wynne s proposal but they act opposite to what they think or say.
We thought no parent in good mind will send their child to full day jk or sk, but enrollment numbers have shown us different over the latest years.
We thought no many parents will take the 18 months mat leave due to economic situations, well I see more and more new mothers decisions inclined to take advantage to spend another six months with their child.
We thought, parents would be wise in choosing care for their children and will know that centres due to high ratios aren't the best places for raising new brains, well every new centre that had opened in my neighbourhood has been filled the very first days. I actually see many caregivers looking to fill their spots now and others being used only for few months until a centre has an opening.
I'm sure if the Liberals. Win this will happen and we are out. But, also I think from were ever they get the money I'm pretty sure our future generations will pay for it. Hopefully the Liberals also have enough money to offer to us because we will be on welfare or how else single mothers or one income families will survive if they have to close shop?
The Liberals have offered changes in childcare years ago, they won and we are living now that reality. I'm sure new parents will be voting for this new announcement (disregards to what they say publicly).
Hi Peacefulbird! You just jogged my memory that I completely forgot to respond to your last email, eons ago. I'm so sorry! I took a break from CICPO for several months and got busy with a renovation. Back in it now, it appears.
As long as the PCs just keep their heads down and don't f&^% up any more, we should be golden. There is no way the Liberals are getting back in. They are soooooo far behind. NDP would be equally catastrophic for us, but they're pretty far behind as well. I'd say if anyone's got a shot, it's them, but it's unlikely.
Also remember that the Liberals still don't have enough spaces created for their promise. This would take time. And imagine the quality? They did such a terrible job with FDK that Montessori enrollments are up. I had 2 families in my care alone who have opted for Montessori school instead of public. I've heard of loads more. But again....Libs are out.
On the upside, PCs have reached out to CICPO again and asked for our recommendations, data, etc. This is good! I launched a letter writing campaign a few minutes ago. Here's what we put out, if you want to share it around and get people to write in. The opposition needs to hear from us, our families, clients and friends. Nice to hear from you :)
The Liberals announced on Tuesday that 'free childcare for all' will be rolling out for children from ages 2.5 years until they start JK. The main focus is on centre based care in schools at a cost of approximately $3.8 000 000 000.00. In light of Ontario's current financial mess created by this same government, how many providers and families alike have concerns about this latest eleventh hour Hail Mary? Gila Martow (PC MPP and Critic for Children, Youth and Families) wants to hear from us - all of us. Please take a few minutes to write a letter to be forwarded to Ms. Martow (gila.martow@pc.ola. org) so she may bring our concerns to the PC campaign and Queen's Park. Please also send to PC candidates in your local areas. You can find their emails here - https://www.ontariopc.ca/our_candidates . Feel free to share this to other groups, families, friends. There will be a poll available on our main FB page so you may notify CICPO of your submission and submissions from friends and family. This will help us gauge public participation and impact.
( https://www.facebook.com/groups/CICPO/ )
Below are some concerns/discussion points for consideration:
* It's an obvious vote grab.
* With Ontario holding the highest debt in its history, is this something we can afford? Where is the money coming from?
* Could these funds be used more effectively, freeing some of it up for other high need areas (mental health, special needs, seniors, etc)?
* With such a robust supply of cost effective childcare being provided by the Independent Sector, why is the Liberal government choosing to focus on costly, centre based care rather than a less expensive direct licensing model or registry?
* Why is this only now an issue, just 3 months before an election?
* Severely limits parental choice.
* Is before and after school care also free? Why not?
* Why are my childcare fees only 'free' for 1.5 years?
* Young children in classroom environment for 10-12 hours every day.
Just a heads up from B.C. Our government has started a Fee Reduction Initiative. Daycare providers are given the choice at this time if they want to opt-in. All parents are eligible to receive this as long as their daycare provider has opted into the program. There will be a list of participating daycares online so Parents can look up if their daycare is accepted. I opted in only because I felt I was being forced to. As it turns out only about 20% have opted in so far.
This initiative was announced publicly before they informed daycare operators. The contract that we were initially given had a deadline of March 27th, about 2 weeks before the deadline. We have been given tidbits of info through teleconferences and emails. It's apparent they don't really have a plan and are making it up as they go along. So in essence we were forced to sign a contract that was amibiguous and confusing.
I'd love to hear more about this daycaremom9. How does it work? The title doesn't sound good for providers. Is it like a subsidy?
* It's an obvious vote grab.
* With Ontario holding the highest debt in its history, is this something we can afford? Where is the money coming from?
* Could these funds be used more effectively, freeing some of it up for other high need areas (mental health, special needs, seniors, etc)?
* With such a robust supply of cost effective childcare being provided by the Independent Sector, why is the Liberal government choosing to focus on costly, centre based care rather than a less expensive direct licensing model or registry?
* Why is this only now an issue, just 3 months before an election?
* Severely limits parental choice.
* Is before and after school care also free? Why not?
* Why are my childcare fees only 'free' for 1.5 years?
* Young children in classroom environment for 10-12 hours every day.
Hi cfred,
This is all true when you ask us or people who are thinking clearly,but i doubt that people with little children would care about it at all and especially when promised a huge savings on day cares..
I think most likely it will be the same as when they proposed JK full time a few years ago.That affected us too,but not as much! Now this proposition might easily work out again but wil affect us much more in a bad sense :(
A question (out of context, sorry about that) it seems I cannot figure out how to start a threat. I'm wondering what are ontario caregivers thoughts about the "two working caregiver model " proposal. It seems they're debating that now.
The family daycares that have opted in would receive $60-$200 for each child in order to decrease the parents fees by the same amount.There would be a list of which daycares have opted in on-line. The daycares that have opted into this initiative have signed a contract agreeing that we wouldn't raise our rates for the duration of the contract (1 year) and that we wouldn't be taking more than 4 weeks total of vacation time (only allowing us to take 2 different periods for no longer than 2 weeks at a time). I'm ok with everything set out aside from all the extra time filling out forms. But who knows what they'll include in this contract next year.Quote:
Originally Posted by cfred
The government here wants to open huge centres but how will they staff them when there is a shortage of people untrained? The daycare association here alluded to the fact that the government may be trying to close privately run daycares and using these owners for these centres.
The government keeps talking about "quality daycare" demeaning us private daycare providers assuming that we don't run a quality program.
Oh, I agree! People will only see the savings. However, it should be noted that they don't have nearly enough spaces to accommodate all the children in Ontario. There will still be a market for us, though our window will be much smaller. And this doesn't factor in families with nannies or other forms of childcare. Considering how poorly FDK has gone, I think we'll be considered the more 'elite' form of childcare for those who can afford it. I know Montessori and private school enrollments are up since FDK started going down the tubes. Considering how poorly FDK has lived up to the hype, I'm thinking the free daycare will be of similar quality. On the other side, I'm hoping the PCs adopt Patrick's original plan of refunding 75% of childcare fees back to parents. That seems a smarter solution and I think it would resonate with the public. That reduces cost for families while allowing families to choose the style of childcare that works best for them. Let's utilize the childcare already available, rather than spending $38k/space for centre based care, while stripping families of all options. Ford said he liked that aspect of the original platform, but we're still waiting to hear back. I think campaigning starts in earnest next week.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rose1