ADCO Responds to CCPA Report on Child Care Costs

November 11, 2014

"The report raises some important points," notes Greg Humphreys, co-chair of ADCO's government relations committee. "Provincial policy plays a huge role in determining child care costs. It can dramatically increase or decrease the cost of running a licensed child care centre, whether it’s run as a small business or as a not-for-profit," explains Humphreys.

One example is the Provincial policy to be hands-off with respect to how municipalities administer Provincial child care funding. Some municipalities allocate this money wisely, channeling most of it into fee subsidies for families who need help with their child care costs. Others run their own licensed child care programs or impose additional regulatory and reporting requirements on licensed centres in their communities, dramatically increasing the cost to deliver licensed child care in that municipality.

ADCO cautions that Bill 10 -- the Child Care Modernization Act -- is likely to make licensed child care harder to find and will increase the cost of licensed child care in Ontario. If passed in its current form, Bill 10 will give unelected municipal officials the right to weigh in on Provincial licensing decisions, allowing them to recommend that a new license not be granted, even if the licensee meets all Provincial regulatory requirements. Since many municipalities own and operate their own licensed child care centres, this is a clear conflict of interest. "It doesn’t matter who owns them, if there are fewer licensed child care providers in a given community, of course child care fees will go up," adds Humphreys.

ADCO is urging further caution from the Government and legislators about the long-term impacts and unintended consequences of Bill 10. ADCO notes that Bill 10 could also force more licensed centres to close by imposing fines for alleged contraventions of the Act, with no meaningful right of appeal for owner/operators. There is no evidence that any of the new restrictions on licensed child care programs will help keep overcrowded, illegal day cares from operating, which is the main reason Bill 10 was tabled in the first place.


For more information contact:
Andrea Hannen
Operations Manager
Association of Day Care Operators of Ontario (ADCO)
Phone: 1-800-567-7075
Email: ahannen@adco-o.on.ca
Website: www.childcaretoday.ca

Click here to view our Sources Listing:

Association of Day Care Operators of Ontario (ADCO)

Topics:

• Aboriginal Children
• Affordable Child Care
• Business/Management
• Business & Social Responsibility
• Child Care Centres
• Child Care Consultants
• Child Care/Employee Support
• Child Care Expenses
• Child Care Funding
• Child Care in Schools
• Child Care Information Services
• Child Care Policy
• Child Care Reform
• Child Care Research
• Child Care Safety
• Child Care/Subsidized
• Children
• Children/Policies for
• Citizen Advocacy
• Community Child Care
• Community Services/Children & Youth
• Curriculum/Early Childhood Education
• Daycare
• Day Care Benefits
• Day Care Conferences
• Early Childhood Development
• Early Childhood Education
• Employer-Sponsored Child Care
• Family Policy
• Investing for Children
• Non-Profit Child Care
• Parent Support
• Private For-Profit Child Care/Day Care
• Private Home Day Care
• Public Speakers
• School-Based Child Care
• Social Policy
• Social Research