TORONTO – Steven Del Duca, Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, and Mitzie Hunter, Finance Critic for the Ontario Liberal Party and MPP for Scarborough Guildwood, reacted to a new report today from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.
‘The She-Covery Project’, a new report from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, outlines what Mitzie Hunter and the Ontario Liberals have been telling Doug Ford all along: the COVID-19 pandemic has hurt women the hardest, and without targeted aid, women will be left behind in a recovery.
“Today’s Chamber report makes it clearer than ever; COVID-19 has disproportionately hurt women and forced them out of the workforce,” said Steven Del Duca. “Most childcare centres are not operating at full-capacity and the reopening of our schools is proving to be a disaster. Women are being forced to choose between their kids and their careers.”
“For months we’ve been calling on Doug Ford to take meaningful action to support vulnerable groups who are being left behind in Ontario’s recovery,” stated Hunter There’s no question that women, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, and youth have been disproportionately set back by COVID-19, today’s Chamber’s report echoes the tread outlined by Statistics Canada and others.”
Ontario Liberals are calling for real action from the government to address these challenges, including new funding support for child care centres to fully reopen. The government has claimed that day care capacity has returned to 90% – when in fact it is far less.
“Ontarians deserve meaningful action from their government to support women, BIPOC, and youth through the pandemic and into the long-term recovery. I continue to call on the government to provide a real plan with supports and targeted funding to address this inequality in economic opportunities for these groups. Without a She-Covery, Ontario’s economy will never fully return,” concluded Hunter.
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