EXCERPTS:
Windsor's already dwindling supply of child care centres will shrink even further unless the province commits to substantially increasing the number of daycare spots it helps subsidize, city council heard Monday night.
The CAW recently announced its Windsor child care centre will close at the end of next month because of funding shortages, and "some others are going down that same path," operator Leah Hills told council.
The problem didn't begin with the closing of the city's own daycare centres, but rather with the provincial government's decision to invest about $1.5 billion a year to provide full-day JK and SK, city administrators said. Operating daycare centres now costs more because it's a lot more expensive providing spots for younger children, council was told.
To help adapt, the province announced a $90-million program, but only $40 million of that amount has been allocated, and Windsor's share was $684,000, according to Ronna Warsh, the city's community development and health commissioner.
Windsor, however, would need an additional $4 million a year just to accommodate the current waiting list of 485 children whose families need subsidized daycare, said Warsh. Council heard that list is growing by up to 20 children a day.
Unless the province frees up more money, "we're going to see more closures," said Warsh. She said even the $90 million total the province originally pledged is not enough to meet the demand for subsidized day care spots.
Warsh said she knew "this crisis was coming" when the provincial government announced four years ago it was introducing full-day JK and SK. "They forgot that these centres and these parents ... need help," she said.
Ward 7 Coun. Percy Hatfield said it was "shameful" that at a time when Windsor's economy appears to be finally picking up, parents can't find affordable daycare spaces. "It's just not right," he said.
Council passed a motion to have Warsh write the province seeking a review of the current subsidy to municipalities. She was also instructed to meet with local MPPs to discuss the matter.
A number of local daycare operators attended Monday's council meeting. One of the delegates, Lidia Bunt, said a local network has been established, and she invited the city to team up with it in an effort to get more funding from the province.
-reprinted from the Windsor Star