An Ottawa man is charged with leaving his two young children alone in a hot car in the city of Vaughan just north of Toronto.

Police say the three-year-old and six-year-old girls were left unattended for about half an hour in the sweltering heat.

The children were rescued from a parked car in a shopping plaza on highway 27 north of highway 7 yesterday.

Police say they were upset, thirsty, and hot, but otherwise ok. Their 35-year-old father was arrested.