‘Causing a great deal of difficulty’: Brockville urges government action to revise childcare quotas

As an underserved community for childcare spaces, Brockville has joined the chorus in advocating higher levels of government to take action.

At their meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 27, Brockville City Council members received a plea from Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC), wherein the City of Brockville is being asked to “urge the federal and provincial governments to revise the outdated for-profit/not-for-profit quotas in the agreement.” 

Additionally, Brockville Mayor Matt Wren has been tasked to send a letter on behalf of the City of Brockville to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), to advocate for changes to the for-profit/not-for-profit ratios. 

This desire for revision comes after the federal and provincial governments announced a funding agreement on March 22, 2022, aimed at reducing the cost of child care in Ontario to an average of $10 per day by 2025-2026. According to the agenda, “the mandated 30/70 for-profit/not-for-profit quota within the agreement artificially limits the number of licenses that can be issued, thereby restricting the creation of new child care spaces.”

CWELCC states that this quota is actually putting families in a precarious situation as they are “being forced to wait for $10 per day child care” despite unspent budget allocations for not-for-profit centres, which remain unrealized due to a lack of applications from not-for-profits. According to CWELCC, adjusting the quota ratios could immediately unlock thousands of new $10 per-day childcare spaces.

Before voting on the item, Mayor Wren spoke to the council to provide more context on the issue.

“MPP, Clark reached out to myself and all the other mayors of Leeds and Grenville asking if we would put this on our council agenda, hoping for your support, because they’re working very hard to deliver on the spaces that were promised to parents in the province, and this ratio is causing a great deal of difficulty, because there just aren’t enough, or not enough capacity in the not-for-profit side of child care to provide the spaces.”

Mayor Wren referenced the data he received from the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, who are the service providers for childcare in this area.

“They say that Brockville is currently considered an underserved community for child care spaces, prior to the allocation of the original 397 CWELCC spaces,” the mayor shared. “They’re now sitting at 24-plus months, which is why Leeds and Grenville have requested an additional 240 CWELCC spaces, but at the ratios that currently exist, the counties are concerned that they will be able to procure the number of spaces if they’re awarded the funding for them, and that’s why this is our on our agenda this evening.”

This motion was unanimously carried by Brockville City Council.