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Principals in Toronto and Peel schools get permission to dismiss class if there’s a case of COVID-19

Sep 1, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Principals of Toronto and Peel region’s publicly funded schools can now dismiss an entire cohort of kids from class if they have had exposure to a confirmed case of , without waiting for permission from their respective public health units.

This new power, handed down this week, allows principals to be more nimble and act more quickly to make a decision that could keep an entire class — or school — from being exposed to the virus. The change comes as continue to climb across the GTA.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the Toronto District School Board was reporting 110 students and 41 staff infected in 106 schools. Peel was reporting 42 schools with one or more case.

In a letter to the Peel school community Monday, Peel Public Health said: “Starting today, if there is a confirmed positive COVID-19 case in a class or cohort, the students and the teacher in the class must go home immediately. Please have a plan for your child to be picked up during the school day in these situations,” said the directive.

Dr. Lawrence Loh, Peel’s medical officer of health, said this new measure is a way to further stop the spread.

“Students and staff often notify the school administration of their positive result directly. Principals work with the school boards and Peel Public Health to determine if a lab-confirmed case has attended school,” said Loh. “The principal will proceed to dismiss the class and advise the school community of the dismissal while Peel Public Health begins its investigation.”

He said the region is “still actively contact tracing and continues to prioritize those cases at highest risk of transmission and infection. As case counts are increasing in school, immediate class dismissal acts as another proactive measure to stop the spread immediately.”

Toronto Public Health said it created a “guide for principals to dismiss cohorts to self-isolate” so that if a “principal is aware of a confirmed case of COVID-19 in a student or staff, the principal can dismiss the (cohort) for self-isolation including classroom, bus and before/after school programs attended by the case immediately upon learning this information,” said Dr. Vinita Dubey, the associate medical officer of health.

“The principal will send communication to the cohort(s) that they are to be self-isolating for now, and why, and that this is pending TPH’s investigation of the case and their contacts. Once TPH has completed the investigation, we will send a letter to the close contacts in the school setting with information on next steps based on information obtained through the investigation.”

“TPH wanted to enable the TDSB out of an abundance of caution,” Toronto District School Board spokesperson Ryan Bird said.

While it’s unclear how long the process of dismissing a cohort, or isolating an entire class, may take, because each case is different and timing varies, Bird said this new measure will undoubtedly hasten the process. Often, principals are alerted about cases after hours, if a parent or someone in the community alerts them, Bird said.

Until late last week, the cohort possibly exposed to a positive COVID case may have had to come to school the next day — possibly being exposed or only to be told to turn around and go back home.

To help principals decide whether and how to make the decision to send an entire cohort home, or keep them from arriving at school in the morning, Toronto Public Health has created a “decision tree” that walks them through the steps.

According to the chart, principals will only be required to dismiss the cohorts immediately affected. They will not be required to provide direction to siblings of students in a dismissed cohort, nor will they ask staff or students potentially exposed to the positive case outside the cohort to self-isolate. They will wait for direction from TPH before doing so.

And if the COVID-19 positive case is an itinerant worker who goes to many classes or cohorts, the case will be flagged to TPH and the principal will await direction.

Noor Javed is a Toronto-based reporter covering current affairs in the York region for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

Michele Henry is a Toronto-based investigative reporter for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

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‘We will never have to move again’: Barrie family overjoyed with new Habitat for Humanity home

Sep 1, 2021 , , , , by shlf

It’s was tough to hold back the tears of joy as a Barrie family received the keys to their new Habitat for Humanity home Sept. 30.

Tara Graham and her children, Isabella and Dylan Rayner, finally stood in a home of their own after being forced to move six times in the past eight years.

“Thanksgiving this year will give us one more thing that we are all thankful for and that is this house and it’s ours,” Graham said as she struggled to hold back tears during the key ceremony.

The Lampman Lane home, which is the 44th home erected by Habitat for Humanity Huronia in 25 years, was made possible with donated materials and labour from several Barrie companies.

Habitat for Humanity homeowners put in their own “sweat equity” and financial contributions to make home ownership possible.

Before she discovered Habitat for Humanity, Graham feared she would never find a stable home for her children.

Two years ago, she worried her income was too high to be accepted but is happy she decided to apply anyway.

“For me to see the smiles on their faces because they know we will never have to move again is all I need,” Graham said during the ceremony. “Isabella already has most of the house decorated and Dylan is anxious to unpack for the last time.”

Graham, who fell on hard times following a separation from her husband, said a string of bad luck found them moving from house to house.

Disrepair, pest, and untreated mould issues forced the family to look for other accommodations again and again.

With the high cost of renting, she never thought she would never be able to safe enough money to pay for a down payment on a house of their own.

That’s where Habitat for Humanity Huronia came in.

“You have given something to myself and my children that no words can ever express how grateful we are and will always be,” she told Habitat staff and volunteers. “Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”

Several companies, including Barrie Trim and Mouldings, helped make the new Habitat home possible.

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Civil rights watchdog accuses Ford government of pandemic power grab ‘by stealth’

Sep 1, 2021 , , , , by shlf

A civil rights watchdog is accusing government of “emergency management regulation by stealth” because restriction orders like last Friday’s ban on in Toronto, Peel and Ottawa are not quickly and officially posted online for all to see.

“Our constitution demands government by laws, not by press release,” Michael Bryant, executive director and general counsel of the said Tuesday after raising concerns in a two-page letter to Attorney General Doug Downey.

It took until Tuesday afternoon for the government to publish the that also require the closures of gyms, theatres, bingos and casinos in the three municipalities with the highest incidences of for at least 28 days.

A government spokesman said the government is responding at “unprecedented speed” to the pandemic, which is why Ford and cabinet ministers hold regular updates at news conferences every weekday to keep Ontarians informed.

“Changes to orders are published online as quickly as is operationally feasible,” said Stephen Warner, press secretary to Solicitor General Sylvia Jones.

Bryant said other provinces and the federal government release such orders simultaneously, which is important because the businesses impacted and their lawyers are entitled to read the fine print, which police forces also need to see.

“I don’t understand how law enforcement is supposed to enforce all this,” added Bryant, who served as attorney general in the Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty.

“I hope they’re not releasing the regulations to the police and not everybody else.”

Warner said the solicitor general “provides information to law enforcement partners regarding any relevant changes to orders.”

In a two-page letter obtained by the Star, Bryant said new COVID-19 regulations and orders-in-council approved by members of Ford’s cabinet should be disclosed in a “timely and consistent manner.”

“During the pandemic, most Canadians must conduct themselves in accordance with frequently changing communications from local public health officers, premiers, mayors, and provincial/territorial cabinet ministers,” Bryant wrote.

“Whether a podium announcement carries lawful authority, as opposed to being a request for guidance, is often unclear to the public,” he said.

“Sometimes, the only way to find out is to check the law itself, which is supposed to be publicly accessible.”

Bryant said delays of at least one to three days in officially posting the orders have been common in Ontario and have been “problematic” since last spring.

“In the absence of any law available to the public, it cannot be said that the premier or any cabinet minister speaks with lawful authority when they announce new restrictions, like those put in place for the Thanksgiving weekend,” he added in the letter.

“The failure to disclose orders upon which the provincial government bases its public pronouncements risks governing COVID by stealth,” he said, describing it as behaviour that is “unconstitutional and destabilizes our democracy.

The new restrictions that took effect Saturday were a sudden reversal for Ford, who had maintained earlier in the week that Ontario was “flattening the curve.”

Additional measures included limiting organized public events to 10 people indoors and 25 outdoors — matching limits imposed in September for private gatherings like house and backyard parties — and banned team sports indoors, such as hockey games at arenas.

Rob Ferguson is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter:

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Barrie’s Georgian College hosting first-ever virtual convocation for graduates

Sep 1, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Fall convocation, celebrating the accomplishments of its graduates, has been a Georgian tradition since 1968.

The college is hosting its first-ever virtual convocation ceremonies this month to recognize almost 2,000 graduates who will join Georgian’s family of more than 85,000 alumni. Due to the pandemic, an in-person celebration is not possible.

“Now, more than ever, we need Georgian graduates. They will be the leaders who define and influence a better future for us all,” said Dr. MaryLynn West-Moynes, president and CEO. “We’re proud of their accomplishments and resilience. They’ve proven earning a credential during a global pandemic is possible, even while facing incredible uncertainty. Georgian graduates will be an integral part of our recovery and developing solutions for whatever challenges we face next.”

A virtual convocation ceremony for the Automotive Business School of Canada took place Oct. 8. Two additional ceremonies will take place Oct. 20 at . The first ceremony will feature graduates from various programs in health, wellness and sciences, and technology and visual arts. The second ceremony is for graduates from programs in areas including business and management, hospitality, tourism and recreation, human services and community safety, and liberal arts.

Students, supporters and viewers from across the globe are invited to watch the ceremonies, learn about alumni perks, shop Georgian Stores (book store), take part in a fun photo booth and more. The microsite will go live at 10 a.m. on the ceremony dates and remain live until the end of October.

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‘I’m running out of ammunition.’ Peel’s medical officer of health looks at more curbs as region faces Ontario’s scariest COVID numbers

Sep 1, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Peel’s medical officer of health is “running out of ammunition” to control the epidemic in his region and warns of further restrictions if the curve doesn’t begin to bend.

Dr. Lawrence Loh said additional “closures or curtailments” to reduce person-to-person interactions are being considered and may be implemented in the coming days if Peel’s daily COVID-19 cases remain the same or continue to rise.

The warning comes as Peel region reports a COVID-19 test positivity rate of 11.8 per cent — by far the highest in the province and more than double the provincial rate.

“We’re running out of time,” Loh told the Star. “I’m running out of ammunition.”

In the last two weeks, Loh has beyond provincial controls, including a ban on wedding receptions and social gatherings in businesses like banquet halls, and that could see employers face fines of $5,000 per day for not co-operating with outbreak investigations.

He has also repeatedly urged Peel residents to only leave home for essential reasons and to not socialize with anyone outside their household.

Yet the , putting hospitals, long-term-care homes and other vulnerable populations at risk, Loh said.

“We need people to hunker down over the next two to four weeks to cut down on the number of interactions,” he said. “But at a local level, I’m running out of ways to manage a decrease in the number of interactions in my community.”

Premier Doug Ford on Wednesday can be expected Friday for Peel, Toronto and York, saying “the virus is spreading at an alarming rate in these areas.”

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie echoed Loh’s concerns at a Wednesday press conference and also hinted at further public health measures, saying Peel is facing a “sobering reality” with widespread COVID-19 transmission where “the virus is controlling us.”

Crombie said Mississauga’s current test positivity rate shows nearly eight per cent of COVID-19 test are coming back positive. She also pointed to a rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations in Peel and the growing number of outbreaks in congregate settings as among her top concerns.

Peel currently has 11 long-term-care homes, five retirement homes and four group homes in outbreak, Crombie said. One long-term-care home currently has more than 90 residents and 60 staff who have tested positive for the virus, she said.

At Trillium Health Partners, the two-hospital system is nearing capacity and is caring for 42 patients with suspected COVID-19 and 60 confirmed COVID-positive patients, 12 of whom are in intensive care, she said.

“That’s 114 rooms being used for just COVID,” she said, adding that staff are preparing for more cases, and that while elective surgeries have not yet been cancelled that prospect is “a growing concern.”

Crombie called the situation at William Osler Health System, which includes Brampton Civic Hospital, “even more dire,” saying the hospital is in gridlock with a total of 120 patients who are COVID-positive or who are awaiting COVID tests.

Osler president and CEO Dr. Naveed Mohammad said the hospital system is facing less pressure this week after starting on Nov. 6, and postponing some elective outpatient surgeries at its Peel Memorial Centre for Integrated Health and Wellness.

“We are holding our head above water but we’ve had to manage and move things around on a day-by-day basis,” he said. He added that he shares Loh’s concern about Peel’s local epidemic and supports Peel Public Health’s recent additional measures and restrictions.

Mohammad said the recent small drop in COVID-19 cases in Peel might be related to the three-day closure of one of Brampton’s busiest testing centres after it was damaged in a weekend windstorm. The centre, which reopened Wednesday, typically processes more than 600 tests a day, with a recent test positivity rate of 19.8 per cent.

“Even though we transferred some people to Peel Memorial (to be tested), some of the lower case numbers in the last couple days may have been the result of that testing centre’s temporary closure. My fear is that because we were hampered for the last three or four days, cases may have been artificially low.”

At a Wednesday morning press conference, Loh said there are nearly 2,000 active COVID-19 cases in Brampton, with the city adding 200 new cases a day.

“This deeply concerns me. If even 10 per cent of those individuals require hospitalization our hospitals will continue to be challenged.”

On Friday, Peel Public Health abandoned some aspects of its contact tracing after facing a growing backlog of new cases, Loh said. Since mid-October, shore up its tracing but even that wasn’t enough to keep up, he said.

The new streamlined process, which focuses on high-risk exposures and asks some people to notify their own close contacts, is reaching people with new COVID-19 infections more quickly and has cut the backlog by 30 per cent, Loh said.

Colin Furness, an infection-control epidemiologist at the University of Toronto, said Peel creates the perfect storm for COVID-19 with its high proportion of large households, and some areas of the region densely populated with essential workers.

“It is not about local public health leadership and it’s not about residents not caring,” he said. “We knew by May where COVID spreads and how COVID spreads. We could have, as a province, taken steps with increased mobile testing and community engagement, and the province didn’t.”

Furness suggested it might be time for Peel to ask the federal government for more supports, beyond the voluntary it committed to earlier this month, rather than wait for provincial help.

Loh said he wrote a letter two weeks ago to Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. David Williams, to highlight that paid sick leave “would be a significant assistance to reducing transmission” in Peel region.

The Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area mayors and chairs on Tuesday said more supports are needed to ensure workers without sick-pay benefits can be tested for COVID-19 without fear of losing income.

Crombie on Wednesday told reporters that Peel has had 116 workplace outbreaks since September and currently has 80 active workplace investigations. Crombie said she is calling on all levels of government and all private sector leaders to come together to “find a way to give workers confidence so that they won’t be penalized for getting tested, getting sick or self-isolating to stop the spread of COVID-19.”

With files from Ed Tubb

Megan Ogilvie is a Toronto-based health reporter for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

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Ontario reports a record 1,388 new COVID-19 cases

Sep 1, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Premier Doug Ford’s words of concern about setting don’t match his actions, critics said, after Ontario set an all-time high of 1,388 new infections.

“These numbers keep me up at night,” Ford told a news conference Tuesday when asked about solutions for curbing the virus with alarming numbers in Toronto and Peel despite that closed indoor dining, gyms and theatres.

“If the numbers get totally out of control, I won’t hesitate to do what it takes to protect the health and safety of the people.”

But while Ford leaves specific measures to local health units under his controversial , the virus is continuing to spread more widely with the holiday season approaching, said Todd Coleman, an epidemiologist at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo.

The steady pace of record highs does not bode well, the former public health official in Middlesex-London added, in a reference to the 10,106 Ontarians now fighting active cases of COVID-19, almost double the level of a month ago.

“Because that’s happening, the pool of infectious people is getting larger, so that means that the potential for spread is also getting larger,” Coleman told the Star.

“I don’t see anything happening in terms of the decision-making to try to curb any of that. I feel there’s a bit of a disconnect between the science and what’s happening.”

Although it’s not bad enough for a lockdown like Manitoba is about to impose, “growth rates indicate we need more restrictions than we have now,” said Dr. Irfan Dhalla, an internist and vice-president at St. Michael’s Hospital.

Ford insisted the province is working with Toronto and Peel Region “to ensure that all necessary steps are taken as we move forward with our framework” and acknowledged “the virus is spreading at an alarming rate all over the world.”

Toronto had a record 520 new cases and Peel had 395, accounting for 66 per cent of infections in the province as per statistics reported by health units at 4 p.m. Monday. Unlike August, when it was typical for 18 or 20 of the province’s 34 health units to have no new daily cases, there were only six in Tuesday’s report.

“This is radiating out,” said Coleman.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said she’s worried that letting COVID-19 gather more steam may force Ford to impose another major lockdown that he says his framework is designed to prevent by providing early warnings when health units are reaching trouble points.

“He’s gambling with people’s lives,” Horwath said. “He claims he’s doing it in the name of business, but putting us all at risk of another real lockdown isn’t good for businesses, the economy or working folks.”

Other key metrics of the pandemic have also been rising. The seven-day average of new cases hit a high of 1,154 on Tuesday, up 21 per cent from 951 a week ago.

Hospitalizations are at their highest rate since mid-June, reaching 422, with 82 patients in intensive care and 54 on ventilators. Hospitals in Peel are at capacity and the province is rushing to open new beds and testing centres.

The 1,388 new cases reported Tuesday were based on 29,125 tests, just over half the daily lab capacity, and indicating a case positivity rate of 5.7 per cent.

Tuesday marked the fifth straight day that case numbers in Ontario have been above 1,000 and the third day with cases above the 1,200 mark.

Two weeks ago, computer modelling presented by provincial officials forecast between 800 and 1,200 new infections daily. Updated modelling will be released Thursday.

is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter:

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Barrie Sobeys is now delivering to your doorstep

Sep 1, 2021 , , , , by shlf

A new delivery service called  has officially expanded its delivery radius to Barrie.

Residents can place their grocery orders online and have them delivered directly to their doorstep from Voilà by Sobeys.

Customers can shop online through or by downloading Voilà’s app. Shop from more than 15,000 fresh produce and grocery items available at Sobeys, Farm Boy and Well.ca.

Customers then select a one-hour delivery window, between 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week.

The program started in Vaughan at the company’s Customer Fulfillment Centre warehouse. Because orders are assembled and shipped from a warehouse, not a store, Voilà implements quality control on all products and manages shelf life, the company said in a media release. Orders are packed by robots at the warehouse and delivered with limited handling.

Sobeys adds that delivery staff follow safety guidelines, standards and recommendations set out by the Public Health Agency of Canada to ensure food is handled safely in temperature-controlled vans.

Staff wears gloves and masks at all times.

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Restaurants and gyms reopening in York, Peel, Ottawa Nov. 7

Sep 1, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Indoor dining and gyms will be reopening in York, Peel and Ottawa this week, as part of the new COVID-19 guidelines released by the Ontario government today. Toronto will follow shortly. 

The new system, announced Nov. 3, will track the trends of Ontario’s regional health units and rank them by a series of five colour-coded categories, in an effort to provide ongoing transparency as to where each region stands.

As of Nov. 7, York, Peel and Ottawa will be moving out of modified Stage 2 and into what is now called the “restrict level,” or “orange level,” which means indoor dining can resume and gyms and theatres can reopen — but with additional protective measures such as no alcohol served after 9 p.m. and three-metres of distance between people exercising, up from two metres.

As well, Eastern Ontario will be moving into restrict level, as a preventative measure. Brant, Durham, Halton and Hamilton will be entering the “protect level,” also know as the “yellow level.”

Toronto will be joining the four regions at the restrict level on Nov. 14, as per the request of Toronto Mayor John Tory and Toronto’s medical officer of health Eileen de Villa, Premier Doug Ford said. 

The rest of the Ontario regions will remain at the “green” or “prevent level,” until further notice. The data will be reviewed and updated on a weekly basis.

“It’s clear COVID-19 will be with us for a while, which is why we are putting in place a framework that will protect the health and safety of individuals and families, while avoiding broader closures across the province,” Ford added. 

“This framework, developed in consultation with our health experts, will serve as an early warning system allowing us to scale up and scale back public health restrictions on a regional or community basis in response to surges and waves of COVID-19.

Here is a breakdown of the levels: 

Green (Prevent): State similar to Stage 3, with certain high-risk locations remaining closed.

Yellow (Protect): Increased enforcement and fines for those not following the guidelines.

Orange (Restrict): Enhanced restrictions in an effort to prevent further closures.

Red (Control): Return to modified Stage 2, with further restrictions and the closure of some businesses or organizations.

Gray (Lockdown): A return to a modified Stage 1 and a declaration of emergency will be considered.

With files from Rob Ferguson

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Toronto to boost help for high-risk areas as second COVID-19 lockdown begins

Sep 1, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Toronto will increase supports for residents in parts of the city that are bearing a higher burden of the COVID-19 epidemic, Mayor John Tory announced Monday.

“We have to fight this virus everywhere and we have to stop it everywhere,” said Tory, speaking at the COVID-19 update from city hall.

He said the city will retrofit city buses to provide mobile testing in the northeast and northwest parts of the city, where there has been a higher incidence of the disease, and use city vehicles to transport people to and from provincial testing sites.

The city will also conduct expanded education and outreach, partnering with 11 community organizations to help residents in the areas access testing, access the city’s isolation facility, and access existing income and sick leave supports.

The city has asked the provincial and federal governments for funding assistance, but Tory said he believes the other two orders of government will come through, and the programs will be rolled out immediately.

In addition, the city has asked the federal and provincial governments to provide paid sick leave for those who don’t have access to it, and to reinstate a moratorium on residential rental evictions and to expand income supports for newcomers to Canada, who are not currently eligible for emergency income assistance.

Monday marked the first day of Toronto’s second lockdown, after a rapidly growing second wave of the virus threatened to swamp the health-care system. Peel Region also re-entered lockdown on Monday.

The personal care industry has once again been shut down, including hair and nail salons; restaurants can no longer serve customers indoors or on patios and may only serve take-out; retailers can only provide curb side pick-up. Public pools and gyms have been closed and recreations programs suspended.

Primary and secondary schools and daycares remain open.

The second lockdown is to last 28 days, which would see restrictions lift on Dec. 21, if the numbers improve, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said a normal Christmas is “out of the question.”

Dr. Eileen de Villa, the city’s medical officer of health, reported 331 new COVID-19 cases in the city, pointing out that there have been 2,177 new cases since Wed., Nov. 18.

Of all the COVID-19 cases reported since the epidemic began, 45 per cent have been reported since Oct. 1, she added.

On Sunday, Dr. Karim Kurji, the medical officer of health for the Regional Municipality of York, issued a class order under Section 22 of the province’s Health Protection and Promotion Act, limiting events at special venues, including banquet halls, hotel conference rooms and convention centres, to no more than 50 people.

He also ordered malls and stores to set maximum capacities for shoppers, and actively monitor and manage the capacity, including lineups.

“There is increasing evidence safe and prescribed physical distancing rules and protocols are not being followed in meeting and event spaces, shopping malls and retail stores,” according to the York Region press release.

Failure to comply will now be met with a fine, upon conviction, of up to $5,000 for a person and $25,000 for a corporation, per day.

Francine Kopun is a Toronto-based reporter covering city hall and municipal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

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Ontario is proposing ‘sneaky’ changes to child care

Aug 31, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Ontario’s Ministry of Education is proposing changes to child-care regulations that would allow operators to group infants and toddlers together, reduce staff-to-child ratios for some age groups and lower qualification requirements for staff.

Child-care advocates said the proposed changes would make child care worse, not better, and they criticized the government for releasing the proposal in the middle of a pandemic, when parents are stressed and many operators are just trying to stay afloat.

“People are pushed to the limit and very distracted,” said Carolyn Ferns, a spokesperson for the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care. “To have something like this come along at a time when the sector is very vulnerable, very distracted and not able to mobilize … I think it’s opportunistic and sneaky.”

The proposed amendments to the Child Care and Early Years Act, , arose as a result of a scheduled five-year review of the Act. The ministry is soliciting feedback from “all interested parties” by Nov. 20.

Among the is combining infants and toddlers into one group. Infants and toddlers are currently grouped by 0-to-18-months and 18-to-30-months, respectively; the new combined group would be 0-to-24-months.

The biggest impact would be for children between 24 and 30 months old. Under the current system, they’re considered toddlers, and required to have a 1-to-5 staff-to-child ratio and a maximum group size of 15.

Under the proposed changes these children would be bumped up into the preschool category with children up to five years old, and they would have a 1-to-8 staff ratio and a maximum group size of 24. “That’s a pretty big change for those two-year-olds,” Ferns said.

Don Giesbrecht, CEO of the Canadian Child Care Federation, said any reduction in staff ratios is concerning.

“Best practice is always going to say that we want more staff for fewer children, not more children for fewer staff,” he said, adding that grouping two-year-olds with children up to five is “not the norm” in Canada. “Typically a two-year-old is very much considered a toddler.”

In a written response to questions for this story, Ingrid Anderson, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, said the changes to age categories were proposed because “greater continuity of care during (a child’s) first years is associated with reduced stress and stronger relationships between educators, children and parents.”

A child’s “developmental progression” varies widely, Anderson said. “Allowing educators and parents to make decisions on when children are ready to progress to the next age group is beneficial for children’s learning and development.”

The proposed changes do not seem to allow children to progress to the next age group based on their development, rather than their age, so it’s not clear what Anderson meant by this. She did not respond to a request for clarification. The ministry is soliciting feedback on possibly allowing overlapping age categories in the future, but that is not one of the proposed amendments.

Anderson said findings from an industry survey and conversations with “sector partners” indicated the need for “more flexibility in (staffing) ratios so that licensees could move children between programs based on their developmental needs.”

The Association of Day Care Operators of Ontario, which represents both for-profit and non-profit child-care centres, declined to comment.

This marks the fourth time in the last decade that the province has proposed changes to age categories and staff ratios. The previous Liberal government under Kathleen Wynne , but when it was met with widespread backlash from parents, advocates and academics.

One difference with the current proposal is that it would be optional for operators to adopt the new age categories, and they would have to apply to the ministry to do so.

Ferns said that since it would be cheaper for child-care operators to use the new age categories and staffing ratios, many would.

“Because we’re in this situation where we have this market model and centres have this financial pressure on them, decisions are made for the wrong reasons,” she said. “We’re not doing it because that’s what’s in the best interests of the child. Is it good for a toddler to be put into a larger group with fewer staff? No, of course not, and we wouldn’t be making that decision if it wasn’t for financial reasons.”

The ministry’s proposed changes also include removing the requirement that staff working with kindergarten-age children be members of the College of Early Educators; allowing non-qualified staff to temporarily fill in for qualified staff for up to two weeks; and requiring that a supervisor have two years’ experience in “general children’s programming,” rather than licensed child care specifically.

Alana Powell, who represents the Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario, said the proposed changes collectively “undermine” the value of early childhood educators and don’t address the long-standing problems of staff recruitment and retention.

“We understand that operators are in a very tough position, but this isn’t the way to solve those problems,” she said. “We really have to get at the root of the issues, which is the wages and working conditions in the sector.”

Coming little more than a week after a throne speech in which the federal government signalled its intention to build a national child-care system, the province’s proposal is deflating, Ferns said.

“They’re not speaking to the moment that we’re in,” she said. “We’re actually at a place in Canada now where we’re talking about making substantial changes to child care. We could be moving forward in a really positive way to expanding licensed child care, to building a system that would be more affordable for families, that would provide some stability for centres, not through tweaking how many kids they can shoehorn into a room, but by actually building a quality, publicly funded child-care system.”

Brendan Kennedy is a Toronto-based social justice reporter for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: