"New Democrats Join Call to Ban Daycare Waitlist Fees"
Mr. Peter Tabuns: Speaker, families in Ontario face a child care crisis. Too few spots and unaffordable rates are a huge financial burden on families. Because parents are desperate, they register on multiple child care lists in their communities. Since they often have to pay to register, this becomes an additional burden on these families.
A number of parents in the east end of Toronto have come together to address this issue. At the beginning of April, the Minister of Education committed to changing regulations to protect parents from these fees and to ensure waiting lists are administered fairly. As of today, there has been no presentation, no public statement that in fact this change is coming forward.
Last week, I introduced a private member’s bill at the request of the parents to take on the issue. I urge the minister to bring forward regulations to actually deal with the waiting list expense and fairness issue. Failing that, my hope is that the government will take on this private member’s bill, take on this legislation and move the issue forward. I think that families, children and the child care system deserve no less.
