The latest figures reveal that 535 of the roughly 1,000 licensed operators in Toronto had applied to join the program as of last week, while 28 had indicated their intention to opt out. However, participation in the program so far appears to vary significantly depending on a center’s operating model The city says about 444 of Toronto’s 726 not-for-profit centers have submitted 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-profits had opted in, representing less than 30 percent of those centers. In an interview with CP24.com, Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care President Carolyn Ferns said she is optimistic there will be “nearly 100 per cent buy-in” among non-profit centers by the 2022 funding deadline. This funding will then be used to reduce parent fees by 25 per cent on average, retroactive to 1 April. But he admitted there is more uncertainty about for-profit centres, which account for about 25 per cent of venues in Toronto. Many of these centers have expressed concerns about the long-term implications of signing the agreement and whether they will be able to eventually reduce fees to $10 a day with the level of funding provided. “I’ve 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 were only supposed to be reduced by 25 per cent),” Ferns said. “They’re saying ‘Oh well, what if we opt out this year and have to opt out and tell parents their fees are going up again?’ Well, yeah, I guess it would be hard, but I think it would be harder to tell the parents that you’re going to keep $5,000 that they owe. I just think that’s really unethical.” When the Ford government reached a $13.2 billion deal with the federal government in March, becoming the last province to do so, it indicated that parents could start receiving rebates backdated to April as soon as spring. But that hasn’t materialized in Toronto, where officials say operators won’t even be told the status of their application until after the Sept. 1 deadline. Discounts retroactive to April 1 will likely begin in October, a spokesman said. The Fern organization represents nearly 200 nonprofit centers. He told CP24.com that while there was a lot of concern about the impact of changing how child care is funded in the first place, most centers he spoke to recently have either already applied for the $10-a-day program or are in the process of process by doing so He admitted that “clear policy communication” around the program may have been “absent” at times, contributing to the concern of some agencies. But he said that’s somewhat by design, with guidelines for joining the program in 2023 still to be finalized. “It’s understandable that there will be some flexibility this year and that’s why they did this two-stage process,” he said. “They’re saying, ‘Let’s work out the kinks and bumps this year and then consult with the industry to create, you know, a system that works for next year.’ I think that’s what they’re trying to do right? And that was all they could do, because if they had come out of the gate, you know, in April, with very strict, very detailed funding guidelines and then it turned out that they didn’t work, you know, it would have been a lot worse.” Under the terms of the agreement with the federal government, centers participating in the program must reduce fees by an average of 25 percent immediately and then another 25 percent in 2023. The ultimate goal of the deal is to further reduce childcare fees to an average of $10 a day by 2026. Ferns said that while hundreds of centers still sit on the sidelines in cities like Toronto, that’s likely more a product of applications only opening in the summer, when most nonprofit boards aren’t typically scheduled to meet. As for earnings, Ferns said it hoped it would eventually opt for 2022 “as an act of good faith”. “Some of these speculations could be delayed until they know they have what they want for next year, that could be the case. But I think they should (choose 2022) as an act of good faith and really prioritize parents over profits. There’s really no danger of them doing that,” he said. Elsewhere in the GTA, the Region of Peel said 173 of its 194 licensed child care operators have completed an expression of interest in the program so far. Only 13 had officially completed the paperwork to apply, but a spokesperson told CP24.com last week that the District expects the number of applications to increase significantly as the Sept. 1 deadline approaches. Meanwhile, in York Region 197 of the 557 licensed centers had officially submitted applications as of last week. Five centers were excluded, all for-profit.
