Dwight Duncan is Ontario's Finance Minister and responsible for Ontario's annual budget.

One of the major challenges facing the current provincial government is to keep people in the workforce. The majority of parents with young children are working. To meet the current challenges of an uncertain economy, it is essential that greater numbers of parents have access to quality affordable child care and early learning. Access to affordable child care allows parents to work, study and parent effectively.

It is also important for this government not to loose sight of the future in times of economic crisis. Ensuring future prosperity means investing in a system of early leaning and child care today. It is the only way to guarantee that the next generation will have the skills and knowledge needed for tomorrow’s economy.

Child care and early learning is an investment. For every dollar that the Ontario government invests in ELCC today there will be a minimum $2 return. Effective investing in uncertain economic times is a political imperative.