Ontario signed a $10.2 billion child-care deal with the federal government Sunday that will cut child-care fees in the province in half by the end of the year.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Doug Ford will announce the deal Monday in the Greater Toronto Area, according to sources from both governments with knowledge of the negotiations.
They all spoke to The Canadian Press on the condition they not be named due to the sensitive nature of the talks.
The Ontario deal is the last one needed to fulfil Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's pledge to bring child-care fees down to an average of $10 a day in every province and territory by the end of 2026.
The 2021 federal budget earmarked $30 billion over five years to set up a long promised, but never delivered, national child-care program.
Ontario was holding out for more money and while they didn't get that, provincial sources say they secured more flexibility in when the funds are spent, which will allow them to hit the target of lowering fees to an average of $10 a day.
As well, they secured a review mechanism in year three that lets them provide an updated costing model and ask for more money to account for any shortfalls.
The five year child-care program was to include $1 billion for Ontario in year one, which is 2021-22. Since that fiscal year ends in four days, the federal government is allowing them more flexibility to push most of that spending into future years.
As part of the deal, Ontario will cut its fees an average of 50 per cent by the end of December, create 86,000 new spaces in child care by the end of the five years and set new minimum-wage floors for child-care workers of $18 an hour for staff and $20 an hour for supervisors.
Those wages will rise $1 an hour each year until the floor hits $25 an hour.
The spaces must be in licensed care and priority is to be given to public or not-for-profit spaces, but the agreement does not leave private, for-profit centres out entirely.
At least one fifth of Ontario's child-care spaces are run by private, for-profit corporations, and some of the highest fees are charged in the province.