The OCBCC provided our pre-budget submission to the Ministry of Finance and the Standing Committee on Finance.

• Read our budget submission in PDF
• Watch our presentation to the Standing Committee on Finance

In just one year Ontario’s commitment to $10-a-day child care under the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) plan is already making life more affordable many Ontario families. It’s a game changer. In 2023 child care fees have been cut in half for hundreds of thousands of families using licensed child care. But to reach more families and ensure quality programs for children Ontario must respond to the workforce shortage in child care with provincial investments in a workforce strategy and salary scale.

Ontario 2023 Budget priorities

1. Invest an initial $300 million to develop and implement a province-wide salary scale in early learning and child care starting at $25 per hour for all staff and $30 per hour for Registered Early Childhood Educators. A salary scale and decent work standards will reverse the child care workforce retention crisis and ensure enough qualified educators to better meet the anticipated demand for $10-a-day child care.  
2. Immediately increase the Provincial Child Care Allocation by at least $240 million to keep pace with inflation. Since 2018 provincial child care allocations to municipalities has been flatlined at $1.67 Billion. An increase to the Provincial Allocation to a total of $1.92 Billion will begin to meet increased costs that child care programs are experiencing. A publicly accountable advisory commission should inform a funding formula and expansion plan. Child care funding guidelines should be implemented that require a budget submission and approval process to cover programs’ reasonable costs.
3. Adopt and implement the child care community’s Roadmap to Universal Child Care in Ontario, which sets out our vision and a shared path forward for Ontario child care.