Hello from WHITE FLOWERS to all . I am new

[cfred]

That doesn't surprise me. Many providers and families don't know about it, though the government will happily ruin you financially should you be unwittingly out of compliance. The only real public education on the matter has come from the Coalition of Independent Childcare Providers of Ontario (CICPO). It might be a good idea, if you have Facebook, to join their group. There is a tremendous amount of information on Bill 10 and our actions against it. Another Facebook group to join which offers more discussion surrounding the details of Bill 10 is Ontario Families and Providers Against Bill 143 - Bill 10 was Bill 143 before the election.

The bill is very complicated and I'm not surprised that you've not read it.....it's painful and I've not read the whole thing either. It took the founders of the group days to read and decipher it...and I believe they had assistance.

Here are the most immediately important rules:

1. No more than 2 children under 2 years of age, including provider's own children.

2. Provider's own children up to the age of 6 yrs are counted in the ratio....unless in FDK (during the prescribed school year.....not sure about PA days and vacations. Summers are definitely out and you need to find alternate care during summer months).

Those are the heaviest hitting ones for most providers. Of course, there are more rules, but those are the biggest and most immediate. The Liberals had told us that we had until Jan 2016 to become compliant. This was stated in Legislative assembly AND right out of the Minister of Education's mouth in a private meeting (that I wish they'd video taped) AND in letters to various providers seeking clarification. Now they're stating that ONLY children in care BEFORE Royal Assent (Dec.4th, 2014) are allowed to stay till Jan 2016, but anyone coming into care afterward (say, Dec 5th onward) must be compliant now. And I'm afraid that not knowing about it won't exempt you from the massive fines if they catch you out of compliance. In fact, either the Minister of Education or the Premiere of Ontario (can't remember which off the top of my head now) stated openly that the fines from Independent Providers being caught out of compliance will pull in revenue for the province. This makes quite a few of us feel that there might be a bit of a witch hunt occurring and we've heard of a number of surprise visits.

There will be a lot of discussion surrounding this on Jan 29th with Lisa MacLeod (running for head of PC party) who has been advocating on our behalf. If you wish to attend, let me know. There will also be some media coverage, which is pretty cool

[bright sparks]

Now they're stating that ONLY children in care BEFORE Royal Assent (Dec.4th, 2014) are allowed to stay till Jan 2016, but anyone coming into care afterward (say, Dec 5th onward) must be compliant now. And I'm afraid that not knowing about it won't exempt you from the massive fines if they catch you out of compliance. In fact, either the Minister of Education or the Premiere of Ontario (can't remember which off the top of my head now) stated openly that the fines from Independent Providers being caught out of compliance will pull in revenue for the province. This makes quite a few of us feel that there might be a bit of a witch hunt occurring and we've heard of a number of surprise visits.

This is the first time I've heard this confirmed and it has my blood boiling for the simple fact of, how the hell are IDP's supposed to know this??? There has been no effort on the governments part, clearly, to inform the GP or the industry professionals of this small but huge detail. How many above board providers could potentially have their reputation ruined innocently due to the fact that they didn't know. Even for someone like me who frequents this site, I was not aware of it. Lot's of providers are following this and are not aware of it. This once again just reinforces that this is just about money. Money for the agencies and money for the province which as you said was said outright by the government but one thing I am yet to hear from a single person is how this crock of a bill makes any child in Ontario safer. What a load of crap! So glad I'm getting out.