Oakville News: MP Anand talks childcare funding at local YMCA
By Ben Brown
On Monday, May 13, 2024, Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau announced that $201.87 million is coming to Ontario to create child care spaces and support child care services. But how much will Halton get?
On Monday, May 13, 2024, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that just over $200 million is coming to Ontario to create childcare spaces and support childcare services. Oakville MP Anita Anand spoke with Oakville News reporters yesterday about what that investment will mean for local the community.
Minister Anand was at Oakville Trafalgar High School in the YMCA Child Care Centre with YMCA of Oakville's President and CEO Kyle Barber.
Concerning the new funding, Anand said that it's an application program for groups like the YMCA to apply to receive this funding.
"The important thing is the federal government is coming to the table with approximately $200 million for 86,000 childcare spaces," said Minister Anand.
In total, $201.87 million is the exact amount being delivered to to the province. There are no exact figures yet on how much of that will be alotted to Oakville specifically or to Halton region.
"This is money that is on the table now and is available right away for the facilities that we're targeting," she continued.
Deputy Prime Minister, Chrystia Freeland, at the original announcement, said, "Young families who don’t yet have access to affordable child care spaces are paying nearly a second rent or mortgage payment for unregulated child care."
Barber says that the demand for child care is huge and that being able to open up more spots is great for the community and "getting people back to work."
"We're a big provider of child care," said Barber, "having that kind of an investment is really going to help us meet the demands of what the community needs."
Minister Anand says that she's most proud of the federal government being able to support families as the participation rate of women in the workforce reaches over 80%. The success of this funding assumes that families are bringing home more money while having access to more child care options and for less money through things like $10-a-day child care.
A report from Halton region says the province will reduce fees to $10 per day by September 2025.
The $201.87 million investment is part of the previously announced $625 million Early Learning and Child Care Infrastructure Fund.
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