ECEC in the Liberal party's plan

Best Start Plan: Our child care plan
In The Ontario Liberal plan. Full paper available in html.

EXCERPT

A child's development is enhanced through good parenting and quality childcare. If we want our kids to aim higher, we have to give them strong support sooner.

Investments in our pre-school children are smart investments: they pay off with better learners, healthier children, more secure families and a more productive economy.

Our Best Start Plan is based on our vision of high-quality early years education and support as a seamless extension of our public education system.

Public schools will become our community hubs, with full-day junior and senior kindergarten eventually available for all four and five-year-olds. Schools will also offer childcare and parenting programs, as well as supporting childcare providers in the community.

Building Best Start will take time but we will transform our vision into reality. The first step, to be taken during our first term in government, will be to improve the quality and affordability of childcare available for our families.

Under our Best Start plan:

• Fully 75% of all households with children under four will be eligible for assistance with their childcare costs. That works out to 330,000 children whose families will receive support -- a 450% increase over today's standard.
• Support levels will be based on income and determined on a sliding scale. A family earning $25,000 will be eligible for a daily childcare subsidy of $15, equal to half the cost of care for their child. Those with even lower incomes who now receive full subsidies will retain them. A household with income of $75,000 would still be eligible for daily assistance of $5 per child. "

Our Best Start Plan is the most ambitious early child development program ever undertaken in the province. This important investment in our future is long overdue.

Best Start: Professional child care standards
In The Ontario Liberal plan, Full paper in html.

EXCERPT

We will enhance the quality of child-care in Ontario by raising professional standards and ensuring that they are met.

Under Best Start, parents will be entitled to assistance with their childcare costs paid to caregivers who register with the government, undergo a background check and receive ongoing training. This will ensure a steady and significant improvement in the number and quality of childcare providers in the province.

We will establish a College of Early Childhood Educators that will set standards and help meet the training needs of childcare providers.

We will enhance Family Resource Centres and Early Years Centres to provide childcare and other early years support to both parents and care providers.