An Ontario Liberal leadership hopeful is proposing universal child care if he becomes premier.

Alvin Tedjo is pitching an ambitious plan that would be even wider in scope than former Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne’s cornerstone election promise in last year’s campaign.

Tedjo, the father of three young children, is promising free child care for kids from 18 months until they are in junior kindergarten — a move he maintains could enable some 40,000 mothers and fathers to return to the workforce.

“It’s so unaffordable that people are paying more than they are on their mortgages,” the leadership candidate said in an interview Tuesday.

“This is more than the cost of (university and college) tuition and we have programs for that — we have RESPs, we have OSAP,” he said, referring to registered education savings plans and the Ontario Student Assistance Program.

“There’s no programs to help parents to afford child care.”

Tedjo, a former Liberal candidate in Oakville North—Burlington, concedes that providing 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. care for toddlers will not come cheap — when fully implemented it could cost $2.7 billion annually.

But he points to research suggesting that for every dollar invested in early childhood education, there is a potential $2.40 return to the economy.

“It’s a question of priorities,” said Tedjo, taking aim at Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government, which is taking heat for budget cuts that could eliminate a planned 3,059 child-care spaces in 51 local school boards over the next three years.

“We can spend $1 billion putting beer in corner stores or we can pay for an entire year for children across Ontario to get universal preschool care,” he said, referring to Ford’s controversial plan to break a deal with the Beer Store to expand booze sales that could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions in financial penalties.

The child-care plan could also free up 40,000 parents — mostly women — to return to work, Tedjo said.

“We … know … the biggest challenge to closing the gender wage gap is child care and that women tend to be the ones who pass up career advancement opportunities or stay out of the workforce altogether,” he said.

His plan is similar to Wynne’s proposal except that the previous Liberal government planned universal care for children beginning at 2 1/2 old instead of 18 months.

The former premier’s promise fell by the wayside when the Grits lost power to Ford’s Tories.

Ontario Liberals will elect a new leader on March 7 at a convention in Mississauga.

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Former minister Steven Del Duca and MPP Michael Coteau (Don Valley East) are the other two declared candidates.

MPP Mitzie Hunter (Scarborough-Guildwood), is also expected to throw her hat into the ring.

Robert Benzie is the Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie

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