Recognizing Childcare is Essential for Recovery from COVID-19 - by Councillor Mike Layton, seconded by Councillor Joe Cressy

As a result, child care centres are estimated to begin re-opening at about 30 to 40 percent capacity. This means that there will be 60 to 70 percent less available spaces than before the pandemic, when access to child care in Toronto was already nearing crisis levels. The Province hasn't provided a plan for how they will find 60 to 70 percent more child care spaces, and ensure funding for these operators, just to get child care levels back to where they were last year. Moreover, many families have long struggled with accessing affordable child care in our City, facing multi-year waitlists and other barriers. Even a return to the status quo will continue to exclude many. Child care is a sound investment: for every $1 that the Quebec government spends on child care, it gets back $5 in economic stimulus. At the same time, it is essential for addressing gender inequity and tackling the pay gap, which in Canada means that today, women still earn 87 cents for each dollar earned by a man. Providing affordable child care creates jobs, reduces inequality, and ensures that working parents are empowered to make decisions about what's best for their family. That's why all levels of government must work together to create a national framework for child care that is truly affordable and accessible to all. We cannot move forward into full recovery without a National Child Care Strategy.

3. City Council request the Government of Ontario and the Government of Canada to develop a National Child Care Strategy to make child care more accessible and affordable for low- and moderate-income families, which is essential to economic recovery.