Policy Monitor

Excerpt: "Delivering $10-a-day child care for families right across the country is a key part of making life more affordable while creating good jobs and growing our economy by helping parents rejoin the workforce. The Government of Canada’s plan has already cut child care fees in half for families on Prince Edward Island (PEI) to an average of $20-a-day. As we keep making progress toward $10-a-day child care on the Island, we are investing to improve child care and make it more accessible for more families."

Excerpt: "For the first-time ever, employees of EYCs in Prince Edward Island will soon benefit from a defined contribution pension plan, with matching government funds. As the province expands the publicly managed system, the number of staff required to maintain the program will also increase, and long-term financial investments will support a more sustainable workforce."

Excerpt: "The City of Fernie is pleased to announce $19 million in provincial and federal funding has been secured for a Provincial Pilot Project to create 100 new child care spaces and approximately 27 units of housing, prioritized for early childhood educators (ECEs)."

Excerpt: “A new three-year action plan, signed as part of the Canada-Manitoba Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, sets out plans for the remainder of the estimated $1.2 billion the federal government is providing over five years for child care. In addition, a new two-year action plan sets out plans for the remainder of the estimated $78 million the federal government is providing over four years under the Canada-Manitoba Early Learning and Child Care Agreement.”

Excerpt: “The $4.1-million investment will support an expansion project in the Town of Altona for the Kiddie Sunshine Centre to create 98 new child-care spaces in the community including 20 infant spaces, 48 preschool spaces and 30 school-aged spaces. The new stand-alone child-care centre will be built on land leased from Border Land School Division and is expected to open in the fall of 2024.”

Excerpt: “Bright Beginnings Educare will operate the Headingley facility, with 20 infants and 54 preschool spaces.”

Excerpt: "Families across Canada are striving every day to give their children the best possible start in life. That is why the Government of Canada is working with our provincial, territorial and Indigenous partners on building a Canada-wide early learning and child care system that offers families better access to high-quality, affordable, flexible, and inclusive child care and early learning opportunities, no matter where they live."

Excerpt: “A new investment of $180 million will add more than 3,700 new licensed and funded infant, pre-school and school-age spaces through child-care space expansion projects at public schools and post-secondary institutions. With funding provided under the Canada-Manitoba Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, $132 million will be allocated across 36 public schools to create more than 2,400 spaces for children under seven. Another $45 million will be provided to support more than 680 new child-care space expansion projects for children under seven across six post-secondary institutions.”

Excerpt: "As of July 2023, the benefit increased by an additional $250 per year for a two-parent family of four and as much as $750 for a single-parent family with two children. Approximately 95% of single-parent families in B.C. get the benefit, with payments averaging $2,254 over the year."

Excerpt: “Provinces and territories shared how they have been working to strengthen the workforce by establishing and expanding wage grids and training initiatives and by advancing recruitment, retention and recognition supports. The strategy will be an added tool for all ministers to consider as they continue to work toward their shared goal of providing more families in Canada with access to high-quality, affordable, flexible and inclusive early learning and child care, no matter where they live. Additionally, Ontario has committed to taking the lead on establishing a working group on inter-provincial and territorial mobility and foreign credential recognition for the early childhood education workforce to ensure seamless movement of qualified staff across Canada and from around the world.”

Excerpt: "The University of British Columbia is receiving a total of $239,765 in federal funding over 24 months, effective January 2023, for their project titled Professional Development for ELCC Workers Through an Indigenous-ECE Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). This project focuses on providing early childhood educators with professional development opportunities to receive training on incorporating Indigenous perspectives, worldviews and pedagogies into early learning and child care environments through the development of an online course. The goal is that by widely offering this free online training across Canada, more ECEs will have these critical skills. This means that more Indigenous families and children will have access to affordable, culturally appropriate early learning and child care."

Excerpt: "The Nova Scotia Child Benefit is a tax-free payment to help eligible families with the cost of raising children under 18 years of age. Budget 2023-24 invests an additional $8 million in the benefit to help support families with incomes below $34,000. Families receiving the benefit will see: a $250 increase for the first child and each additional child for families earning less than $26,000; a $250 increase for the first child and $125 for each additional child for those earning between $26,000 and $33,999; In the last two years, the annual payment for families at the lowest income level has increased by $600 per child to $1,525."