Ontario presses feds for more child care money as some for-profit operators protest [Video]

Ontario needs more money to properly deliver the national $10-a-day child-care program now and beyond the life of the current agreement, the province’s education minister has told the federal minister in a new letter.

Education Minister Jill Dunlop suggests in her letter to federal Families Minister Jenna Sudds that the sustainability of the program is in jeopardy without more funding.

“Ontario remains deeply concerned about the structural deficit estimated at $1.95B in the first year beyond the current term of the agreement,” Dunlop wrote.

The province has used the federal funding so far to cut fees in half for parents, with a further reduction coming Jan. 1, but says little money is left to help operators add more spaces or implement a wage grid for early childhood educators to help ease a recruitment and retention crunch.

“Frankly, this is their signature program,” Dunlop said after question period earlier this week. …