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Early-childhood educators in licensed daycare are getting their pay increased $1 an hour this month, Premier Kathleen Wynne announced Monday.

The move follows through on a section of the provincial budget the Ontario legislature approved last summer.

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“We all know, and are reminded today, that putting very young people on the path to success starts when they are little,” said Wynne in making the announcement at St. Lawrence College in Kingston. “It’s a huge job that requires natural talents, acquired skills and unflagging dedication and patience.”

Since the province instituted full-day kindergarten, with teachers paired up with early-childhood educators in school classrooms, there’s been a big gap between the average pay of a school-based worker ($22 an hour to start) and one in an independent licensed daycare ($16.34 an hour).

The hike is to be followed by another $1-an-hour increase next year in an attempt to close the gap a little bit and help daycares keep workers from rushing to school-board jobs as soon as they can get them.

The increase, which the province will fund for daycares that apply, is expected to cost the province $269 million over three years, an average of about $89 million a year. It doesn’t affect private unlicensed daycares, though, which are the backbone of child care in Ontario.

Wynne said nurturing small children and encouraging their curiosity is vital to Ontario’s future, and chided a reporter who began a question about the province’s economy by saying it was on a different subject.

dreevely@ottawacitizen.com

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