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But What About the Children?
At today’s council meeting, debate was heated over item CD1.6, the Community Development and Recreation Committee’s recommendation that City Council establish a Task Force on Childcare Development. Giorgio Mammoliti (Ward 7, York West) who originally put forward the idea, spoke at length and answered questions, arguing that this is city council’s opportunity to take a stand on the issue of childcare. Among other councillors, Adam Vaughan (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina) warned against any measures that could leave childcare unsupervised, so to speak, in the City of Toronto. “The notion that you can provide safe childcare, for next to no money, is a myth,” Vaughan said, going on to cite examples of dangerous, under-regulated childcare businesses in other municipalities. In response to Mammoliti’s commitment to creating it as a Mayor’s Task Force, Joe Mihevc (Ward 21, St. Paul’s) put forward an amendment supporting the recommendations made by the Community Development and Recreation Committee, in part to ensure the process would be open and allow for public engagement and consultation.
After further questions and statements from other councillors about how exactly the task force would operate, and how and to whom it would report—which led to separate votes on several of the motion’s sections—council voted 20–19 against Mihevc’s amendment but 34–5 in favour of a motion by Mark Grimes (Ward 6, Etobicoke-Lakeshore) to have the task force report to the executive committee. The final vote was 34–5 in favour of Mammoliti’s original motion.