I'm finding myself more and more confused by this legislation. I was inspected many times over the last 15 years and on some occasions we were having play dates with another day care. (I am downtown and several neighbours have been aggravated by the extra parking demands and inconvenience of my day care). In 2000, Lise Hamer of the Ministry of Child and Youth Services wrote both day cares a letter stating we were to "limit visits between the two day care businesses". She never told us what 'limit' meant....2 visits a week, a month??? but we were not told to STOP visiting! We were not fined for visits and faced no charges until 2009. That seems to be when the attitude changed.
Anyway, CCPRN seems to be taking this issue seriously and has asked all of us to contact our MPPs with our concerns and maybe encourage a more realistic attitude re: play dates. They wrote:" The impact on child care will lead to poorer quality care and potential loss of child care providers through: increased isolation of caregivers; decreased opportunities for children to socialize with other children and interact in a new environment; decreased learning/networking opportunities for caregivers; outing opportunities limited to public space which often are less safe than a caregiver's home; no opportunity for experienced caregivers to mentor new caregivers on incorporating quality proven daycare practices...."