SPRINGWATER NEWS, FEBRUARY 4, 2010

MPP DUNLOP CALLS FOR POSTPONEMENT OF FULL DAY KINDERGARTEN TO HELP CHILDREN’S AID

I am calling on the McGuinty government to postpone plans for Full Day Kindergarten across the province for at least a year and divert funding to Children's Aid Societies across the province which are facing huge deficits.

The Children's Aid Society of Simcoe County has a $5-million deficit this year. The accumulated deficit for all Children’s Aid Societies in Ontario is 70 million dollars. 36 of the 51 Children's Aid Societies across the province have filed for Section 14 reviews.

Most of the Children’s Aid’s programs are mandated and in order for societies to meet the needs and provide protection for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged (children) in our communities they need funding. They haven't been able to balance their mandate to protect children with the funding they receive from the province.

The Government has announced that 580 schools across the province will provide full-day kindergarten for four and five year olds starting this fall. The government has said the program is estimated to cost $1.5 billion once it’s fully implemented.

Given that there is no plan with any detail it is difficult to understand how the $1.5 billion will be spent. Instead of moving ahead on an initiative without a plan, it would be more responsible to divert a portion of that money to the Children’s Aid Societies to help children in need now. That would also allow time for public input and consultation on the proposed full-day learning which is a complex and costly proposal given these challenging economic times: especially when the McGuinty Liberals have run the province into a $24.7 billion deficit.

I plan to raise this issue in the Ontario Legislature when we return to sitting later this month. 

The Children's Aid Society of Simcoe County serves about 12,000 children a year.