Parents will now have a one stop shop for child and family programs across Ontario.
Premier Kathleen Wynne announced the integration of four existing provincially funded programs into the new Ontario Early Years Child and Family Centres while visiting London on Friday. Deputy Premier and London North Centre MPP Deb Matthews and Education Minister Liz Sandles were also on hand for the launch at the White Oaks Family Centre on Bradley Ave.
Wynne stressed the decision to combine the Ontario Early Years Centre, Parenting and Family Literacy Centres, Child Care Resource Centres, and Better Beginnings, Better Future is not about cutting or saving money.
"This is about coordination. It's about $97-million that is in the system. That $97-million is going to stay in the system and we are going to work with the communities to make sure this integration happens. This isn't a cost saving measure, it really is about coordination," says Wynne.
Wynne says the new family centres will give parents a more convenient and easier system to navigate, while still allowing the flexibility of each centre to add customized services to meet local needs.
The transformation of the province's hundreds of centres will be complete by 2018.
The move comes as the government performs a program review, renewal, and transformation throughout the province, combining duplicate programs.
"We are looking at each of the outcomes we hope to get through each of those programs and where there are programs with the same desired outcomes we are bringing them together," says Matthews. "We have done it on children's dental for kids in low income families. We had six programs, we combined them into one program and we were able to add 70,000 kids to low income dental coverage. It's about getting better value for money and bringing programs together that have the same desired outcome."
While in London, Wynne was asked about Shift, London's plan for rapid transit.
"It certainly is on the radar of the Minister of Transportation and the Minister of Infrastructure and I believe it is a live discussion in London right now in terms of putting a business case together," says Wynne. "We are committed to working with communities on local transit solutions."
Wynne stopped short of saying whether the provincial government had earmarked any money for the project in the budget, which will be delivered Thursday.
