Daycares have two weeks left to opt into $10 a day program. Here is where things stand

About 60 per cent of Toronto’s non-profit child-care centres have opted into the federal government’s $10 a day program ahead of a Sept. 1 deadline but the uptake among for-profit centres has lagged behind.

The latest data reveals that 535 of the approximately 1,000 licensed operators in Toronto had applied to opt into the program as of last week, while 28 had signalled their intention to opt out.

However, participation in the program so far appears to vary considerably depending on a centre’s operating model

The city says that about 444 of Toronto’s 726 non-profit centres have filed paperwork to opt in so far, with hundreds more expected to make their intentions clear by the deadline.

But as of last week, only 91 for-profit operators had opted in, accounting for less than 30 per cent of those centres.

In an interview with CP24.com, Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care President Carolyn Ferns said that she is optimistic that there will be “nearly 100% uptake” among non-profit centres by the deadline to receive funding for 2022.

That funding would then be used to reduce parent fees by 25 per cent on average retroactive to April 1.

But she conceded that there is more uncertainty around for-profit centres, which account for about 25 per cent of spaces in Toronto.

Many of those centres have expressed concerns about the long-term impacts of signing onto the agreement and whether they will be able to ultimately reduce fees to $10 a day with the level of funding provided.

“I have heard their arguments but at the end of the day this is real money for parents and there's no risk to them this year (when fees only had to be reduced by 25 per cent),” Ferns said. “They say ‘Oh well, what if we opt in this year and we have to opt out and tell parents that their fees are going back up?’ Well, yeah, I guess that would be hard but I think it would be harder to tell parents you are going to keep $5,000 that they are owed. I just think that is really unethical.”

When the Ford government reached a $13.2 billion agreement with the federal government in March, becoming the last province to do so, it indicated that parents could start receiving rebates retroactive to April as soon as the spring.

But that has not materialized in Toronto, where officials say that operators won’t even be informed of their application status until after the Sept. 1 deadline. Rebates retroactive to April 1 would then likely begin in October, a spokesperson said.

Fern’s organization represents nearly 200 non-profit centres.

She told CP24.com that while there were a lot of concerns about the impacts of changing the way child-care is funded originally, most centres she has spoken to recently have either already applied to the $10 a day program or are in the process of doing so

She conceded that “clear policy communication” around the program has perhaps been “absent” at times, contributing to anxiety among some operators.

But she said that is somewhat by design, with the guidelines for participating in the program in 2023 yet to be finalized.

“There is an understanding that there is going to be some flexibility this year and that's kind of why they did this two-stage process,” she said. “They are saying ‘Let’s work out the kinks and lumps this year and then consult with the sector to set up, you know, a system that works for next year.’ I think that's what they're trying to do right? And that is all that they could do, because if they had come out of the gate, you know, back in April, with really strict, really detailed funding guidelines and then it turned out that they didn't work, you know, it would have been much worse.”

Under the terms of the agreement with the federal government, centres participating in the program will have to reduce fees by an average of 25 per cent immediately and then by another 25 per cent in 2023.

The ultimate goal of the agreement is to see child-care fees further reduce to an average of $10 a day by 2026.

Ferns said that while hundreds of centres still do remain on the sidelines in cities like Toronto, that is likely more of a product of applications only opening up in the summer, when most non-profit boards typically aren’t scheduled to meet.

As for for-profits, Ferns said that she hopes that most ultimately opt-in for 2022 “as an act of good faith.”

“Some of those for-profits could be holding off until they know they have what they want for next year, that might be what's happening. But I think that they should (opt-in for 2022) as an act of good faith and really to prioritize parents over profits. There really is no risk to them to do that," she said.

Elsewhere in the GTA, Peel Region has said that 173 of its 194 licenced childcare operators have completed an expression of interest in the program so far.

Only 13 had formally completed the paperwork to opt in but a spokesperson told CP24.com last week that the Region expects the number of applications to pick up considerably as the Sept. 1 deadline nears.

Meanwhile, in York Region 197 of 557 licenced centres had formally submitted their applications to opt in as of last week. Five centres had opted out, all of which are for-profit.