Waterloo Region to receive more funding for child care spaces

Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced on Friday the province will provide the region with $97 million to help create 3,725 child care spaces over the next three years.

The goal is to help implement child care centres into the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC).

The announcement took place at the Rising Oaks Early Learning Centre in Kitchener. Other politicians in attendance included MPs Mike Harris (Kitchener-Conestoga), Brian Riddell (Cambridge), MP for Kitchener South-Hespeler Valerie Bradford, and Ward 6 Councillor Paul Singh.

Lecce said this funding is a positive step and the funding will be used to help create new child care centres and expand existing ones. He noted there were 15,868 child care spaces enrolled in the CWELCC system in the region last year, and the new funding will increase it by 23.2 per cent.

“It’s an all-the-above strategy,” said Lecce. “It’s going to take a Herculean of all of us working together to get more people, to expand more spaces, but this is a good challenge to move.”

On Thursday, Lecce announced early child care (ECC) workers enrolled in the CWELCC system will get a 19 per cent pay raise, 75 per cent of all ECCs in Ontario will see their pay increase on average from $20/hour to $23.86/hour. It will take effect on January 1, 2024.

Kitchener South-Hespeler MP Valerie Bradford said the changes made with the CWELCC system has cut fees in Ontario by 50 per cent. This results in savings of $8,500 on average for parents, she noted.

At Rising Oaks Early Learning , CEO Lori Prospero said they have seen the fees for their daily infant space decrease from $82 a day to $38.

As of August, there were over 8,300 children in the region on the waiting list for child care.