Ontario premier Doug Ford isn’t much of a politician but whomever is advising him on the day care file isn’t either. The feds are offering Ontario $10 billion to get on board the federal day care deal and the Ontario conservatives are hemming and hawing! They have to be clueless to not understand what this deal will add to the economy of Ontario. This is a dance Ontario doesn’t need.
Would you believe that the conservatives are suggesting that Ontario deserves more than $10 billion? Ontario and Quebec are the only two provinces that could do this on their own. They don’t really need the federal largess.
Maybe Doug Ford is waiting for Premier Kenney in Alberta to make the decision first. He would hardly be waiting for the other holdout, New Brunswick. Isn’t it amazing that three conservative premiers waited until after the election to even talk about the proposal?
But you hardly want to annoy a large number of women voters by dragging your feet on this issue.
Typical of conservatives, the Ontario dim-wits are questioning if the province can afford to subsidize day care to get it down to $10 per day. The truth be told, Ontario cannot afford not to. Every new day care space created, adds to the Ontario economy, helps create jobs and frees another person to get a job.
And that is the challenge. The $10 billion offered Ontario is to kick-start the creation of day care spaces, the training of child care workers and a chance to be creative. Private companies can create many of those spaces as the major users are their own employees. The same goes for government offices, schools, hospitals and churches. There is space to be converted to safe, comfortable, controlled and inexpensive day care. New building is another opportunity with condos, rentals, offices, shopping centres and services to include properly planned day care space.
And, one other point. Is that $10 per day in 2019 dollars or in 2026 dollars? There has to be some flexibility for cost of living here. We hardly want another fiasco such as Doug Ford’s famous ‘Buck a Beer.’
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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry
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