Ontario for-profit daycare centres staging closures to protest new funding formula

Parents across the province could be left in the lurch as some daycare centres will be closing their doors next week in protest of the new funding formula for the $10-a-day childcare program.

The protest involves dozens of private daycare operators who are currently participating in the national program and are taking issue with the upcoming funding changes in Ontario.

Jacky Sheppard with the Private Operators Group (POG) says the federal funding formula will be changing in January from revenue replacement, meaning they were paid back some of the loss of revenue associated with the cheaper daycare, to cost-based funding with profits capped at eight percent.

“It’s never been about the money, never. But we want to be able to make our own decisions in our own ways and run our own [daycares] ourselves. And if there’s a way of making that happen, but keeping the program, then let’s get to the table and figure it out.”

Sheppard tells CityNews for the last two weeks, there has been an awareness campaign and they’ve offered options to daycare operators to participate, including potential closures.

“There were a few ideas that you could close early for a week, you could close for half a day. You could close for one day,” said Sheppard

“We’ve seen a wide variety of options and I think that has definitely got parents interested, inquisitive, concerned, scared, all of those things and to be honest with you, that’s exactly what the operators are feeling.”

Currently, there is a rally planned for Queen’s Park on Tuesday and several daycares across Toronto will be taking part.

Heather Kay is one of many parents now scrambling for backup. Her two young children attend Little Footsteps in Bloor West Village, and she’s been informed their doors will be closed on Tuesday.

“It’s an ongoing discussion every day at home that we just don’t know what the next steps are,” said Kay.

“I do think that parents are sympathetic to the daycare. While we don’t have all of the details as to why the new funding formula doesn’t work for them, we understand that it doesn’t,” she tells CityNews. “And what they’re telling us is they will no longer be able to afford to operate.”

But Carolyn Ferns with the Ontario Coalition for Better Childcare says she said she doesn’t believe parents should be the ones affected by the daycare centre protests.

“I think that, frankly, the idea of closing a childcare center over something like this with very little notice to families, to me, that seems unethical. And I don’t say that lightly,” said Ferns.

“We’ve advocated against regulation changes to ratios, but we never do that at the expense of parents’ care. Certainly not with a week’s notice. And I don’t think that families should be put in the middle of this.”

She said the way the new cost-based funding was developed was based on childcare centres submitting their budget and finding an average cost per unit.

“Half of childcare centers are going to have higher costs than that. But that’s not all they’re getting. So they get benchmark funding, and then they’re going to get what’s called a legacy top-up if they have higher than average costs. And then on top of that, they’re going to get child funding in lieu of profit … it works out to be on average about eight per cent funding in lieu of profit or surplus.”

However, the framework was released in August and Ferns said they didn’t hear any of the concerns now being raised by the for-profit centres.

“We weren’t hearing, we heard that there were questions, this was something to be worked through, we’d sent in questions to the Ministry of Education. We’ve had information sessions for our members and centers about it but for the most part, childcare programs were working through it, ready to move to the next step.”

Ferns said the national childcare model has been working for families and finds the protest “troubling.”

“We know it’s working across the country to lower fees for families, and that childcare programs, the majority of them that are not for profit are working flat out to make this a success. And I think it’s troubling to see these for-profit owners willing to kind of throw all of that away.”

Sheppard said their intention is to make the program successful.

“We want the program to work, we want the parents to get the cheaper daycare … My big wish of the year, wish of the century is that we would go on a pause. All we’re asking for is that January just stops for now.”

In Toronto more than 1,000 licensed daycares have opted into the program, 324 of those are commercial sites. Any centre that withdraws would see parent fees double or even triple.

Sheppard said they have heard from over 50 centres who have said they would withdraw from the program if nothing changes.

Kay said she will be supporting Little Footstep’s protest for now in hopes all sides can find a solution.

A Minister of Education spokesperson said in a statement that the new funding formula, “is consistent across the province and funds operators based on the true costs of operating child care.”

“For this national program to fully succeed the federal government needs to provide more funding to support parents and operators.”

In response, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Jenna Sudds said, “Ontario has all the necessary funding they need, they just need to roll up their sleeves and get the job done, parents are counting on it. It’s easier to say lift the cap and give us more money instead of putting in the work.”

Sudds added these operators are looking for one in every five dollars that is supposed to go towards care for kids, better wages and more spaces to go in their pockets.

“We have seen what happens when we privatize health care – it leads to increased costs, unequal access, and disparity in quality. It wouldn’t be fair to parents or our children to let the same happen with our national child care system.”

“Next week may be a challenging and stressful situation for parents who may have to find alternative arrangements for their children as these centres stage closures or limit their hours,” she adds.

On top of the Queen’s Park rally, there will also be one on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday.