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Canada's national child care advocacy association, Child Care Now, has welcomed a reduction in child-care fees in Ontario, while expressing concern that far too few families stand to benefit.
Child-care fees have been reduced from an average of $23 a day to an average of $19, and capped at $22. The fee reduction took effect on Wednesday.
Morna Ballantyne, Child Care Now's executive director, said while the fee reduction will only be for parents with children six or younger in licensed child care, she's "very happy" that fees are going down.
"What's really good about the announcement … is that Ontario is now following what a number of other provinces have done, and that is introduce what we call a flat fee, so it doesn't matter which child-care centre you have access to, you'll be paying no more than $22 a day," Ballantyne told CBC Toronto.
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'Life is expensive right now': daycare operator
Franca Lombardi, who operates a daycare in York Region, welcomes the reduction, saying it provides a "break" for parents.
"It's just important that parents need to know that operators, we're on their side. We want them to have that break," Lombardi told CBC Toronto.
"Everything, life is expensive right now. We're not the bad guys. We're just trying to get the money in their hands, leave us out of it so we can continue doing what we know needs to be done for the kids," Lombardi said.
Lack of adequate child-care space still a problem: Ballantyne
Ballantyne said while the Ontario government is allocating more money for daycares, "the lack of spaces" remains a problem.
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