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Zo Canada.

Big Apple business leaders are “committed” to helping deliver universal childcare, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani crowed Thursday — but offered scant details for his $6 billion promise other than it’ll take cues from Quebec.

Mamdani rhapsodized about the Canadian province’s program and what his own plan could do for parents in New York City after privately meeting with biz bigwigs such as Warby Parker CEO Neil Blumenthal over childcare.

“We only need to look at Quebec as an example for what they implemented universal childcare — they saw a 10-to-1 return on their investment. The program more than paid for itself,” he said.


  Mamdani said that his plan for universal childcare will take cues from Quebec. Stephen Yang for the NY Post Mamdani said that his plan for universal childcare will take cues from Quebec. Stephen Yang for the NY Post

“These are programs that not only strengthen our workforce, but they also help employers recruit new talent, they help them retain the talent they already have,” he told reporters at a Chelsea day care center, where he read “The Night Before Christmas” to distracted kids.

Mamdani’s push for universal, free childcare for children from 6 weeks to 5 years old was a core plank of his campaign focused on affordability.

But the democratic socialist has largely stayed vague on actual details, even as New York leaders such as Gov. Kathy Hochul have signaled they support the goal — though not necessarily his plan to fund it by raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy.

Mamdani said his meeting with business pooh-bahs proved productive, partly because they’re frustrated the city and state not delivering affordable childcare — an enormous cost for families that often drives them out of New York City.


  Mamdani’s push for universal, free childcare for children from 6 weeks to 5 years old was a core plank of his campaign focused on affordability. Stephen Yang for the NY Post Mamdani’s push for universal, free childcare for children from 6 weeks to 5 years old was a core plank of his campaign focused on affordability. Stephen Yang for the NY Post

“What I appreciated about this meeting and these business leaders is that they are committed to taking on this issue and committed to taking it on because of the imperative of the moral level, of an economic level, of a political level,” he said — without naming any specific pledges from the honchos.

Pressed how many childcare seats would be needed to achieve his plan, Mamdani also came up empty, punting to his team.

“I’m not yet the mayor, but I am hard at work at preparing this, and what it looks like, frankly, is first assessing the failures of our current approach that we have, and I think that has to be the most urgent point of business is reckoning with and then rectifying the issues that are in 3K here in New York City,” he said. “And then starting to map out what it looks like to build that out so that we are providing childcare for children in six weeks.”

The city currently has roughly 100,000 kids enrolled in childcare programs. Mamdani’s goal ultimately would find care for more than 500,000 children.

But for all Mamdani’s talk about Quebec’s childcare system, it differs from what little he has revealed about his own plan.


  The city currently has roughly 100,000 kids enrolled in childcare programs. Stephen Yang for the NY Post The city currently has roughly 100,000 kids enrolled in childcare programs. Stephen Yang for the NY Post

Quebec offers universal childcare for kids up to 12 years old for roughly $7 US dollars a day, in contrast to the no-cost program for pre-kindergarten children Mamdani envisions.

The Canadian program, which launched in 1997, subsidizes costs for both public and private daycare centers — and includes early education.

Criticism of Quebec’s program includes that its early education centers are too difficult to join and that quality standards are lacking. Supporters contend the initiative has helped bring employment among mothers up to near 90%, according to The Globe and Mail.

Mamdani said he and the business leaders discussed the need for setting up enough daycare centers and home-based childcare to make the plan work.

Joining Mamdani and Blumental at the sitdown were Christy Carter, managing director of Boston Consulting, were at the sitdown, as well as Kathy Wylde and Steve Fulop with the powerful business group the Partnership for NYC.

“We had a wide-ranging conversation about the changes that need to take place so that we can actually implement a system where childcare is a reality as opposed to something that people can be priced out of,” he told reporters after.

“This would put money back in the pockets of families to spend in their local communities,” he said. “And I know that Governor Hochul is committed to this vision, I know that many leaders in the business community are just as committed.”

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