Ontario Hansard March 23, 2010

Mr. Peter Tabuns: I rise today to address the daycare crisis that is building in this province. Recently, I received a letter from the chair of the board of the Boulton Avenue Child Care in my riding. Sarah Johnson chairs an organization that has a long history in the Queen-Broadview area that provides high-quality child care to many children.

She writes:

“As chair of the board of Boulton Avenue Child Care and the parent of a child in daycare, I was really concerned to learn that thousands of child care subsidies and the stability of our entire child care system is at risk if the Ontario government does not include funding for child care in its next budget.

“Cuts to child care subsidies could begin as soon as this July. This hits low-income parents hardest, who can’t afford ... to look for work without affordable, secure child care for their children. Our daycare at Boulton has many such parents, so it would affect not only parents but the entire daycare itself.”

The daycare issue, the child care issue must be addressed in this budget, not only the immediate funding crisis, but the potential dislocation of daycare centres from the piecemeal implementation of full-day kindergarten. Full-day kindergarten is an initiative that parents want. They want it done with a view to preventing upheaval during its implementation.

I call on the government to listen to parents around this province and make sure that daycare is protected, not threatened.