TORONTO - Ontario's New Democrats are promising to give licensed child care centres $125 million a year over the next two years if elected in the Oct. 6 election.
Leader Andrea Horwath says the plan helps keep spaces open and freeze fees, which some groups say are in danger of rising by as much of 30 per cent.
Many centres across the province are closing because of a lack of funding and a move to full-day kindergarten, she says, leaving parents in the lurch.
Horwath says the NDP is committed to full-day kindergarten, but would implement the program while still protecting child care spaces.
She made the announcement at Bond Child and Family Development, a child care centre in Toronto that serves low-income and special needs children and is set to close in December.
The governing Liberals say they have created 22,000 new child care spaces, and claim neither the NDP nor Tories can be trusted to bring in full-day kindergarten.
