Policy Monitor

Excerpt: "Manitoba is working towards expanding and strengthening the early learning and child-care system throughout the province. This includes significant investments in workforce retention and recruitment and increasing the number of funded licensed spaces. The government is also reducing parent fees to make early learning and child care more affordable and accessible for all Manitobans. Budget 2023 makes a number of investments in early learning and child care, including: investing $76.1-million to reduce regulated parent; fees to $10 per day, well in advance of the target; date of Mar. 31, 2026; and launching a multi-year training expansion plan for the early learning and child-care workforce, including early childhood educators and child-care assistants, in partnership with post-secondary institutions."

Excerpt: "The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador today announced details of a new wage grid for early childhood educators working in regulated child care centres that are part of the Operating Grant Program. The wage grid takes effect on April 1, 2023 with a base rate of $25 an hour for Level II early childhood educators who hold a two-year diploma. This is the starting rate for a new graduate. Early childhood educators who continue to further their education and are awarded a higher certification level will be placed at Step One of their new level. Each step on the grid lasts 12 months, and are effective as of January 1, 2023."

Excerpt: "For licensed child care sites enrolled in the Canada-wide early learning and child care system, the Canada-Ontario agreement initially reduced licensed child care fees for children under the age of six by 25%, retroactive to April 1,2022. By the end of 2022, fees in participating licensed child care programs were further lowered, resulting in a total reduction of 50% on average compared to 2020 levels. This could save Ontario families an average of $6,000 to $10,000 per child per year moving forward, based on provincial savings scenarios."

Excerpt: "Ontario continues to work with municipalities and other partners to create 86,000 new, high‐quality child care spaces by December 2026. To support this, the government launched a $213 million grant program for new and existing operators to help offset the costs of expanding or creating spaces such as purchasing equipment or renovating facilities. By providing startup grants, the government is helping to create new child care spaces for communities that need them the most."

Excerpt: "The 2023-24 Budget provides $382.4 million, an increase of $72.1 million or 23.3 per cent over last year for early learning and child care that supports young families in our province. This funding will reduce child care fees for families of children up to the age of six to $10 per day as of April 1, 2023. It will also be used to further increase the number of regulated home-based and centre-based child care spaces in the province, as part of the ongoing goal of ensuring families have access to regulated child care."

Excerpt: "Through the Canada-New Brunswick Canada-Wide Child Care Agreement, the government will provide $37 million in 2023-24, bringing the total investment to $143 million, to improve access to affordable, quality designated child-care spaces throughout the province. An additional $4 million will be allocated to support the creation of additional preschool spaces within the for-profit sector. For the first time in decades, population growth is also having a direct impact in the education system. For the current school year, enrolment increased by more than 4,200. An additional 2,200 students are anticipated to arrive in the 2023-24 school year. The following investments will be made across all levels of the education system: $33.3 million will be allocated for more classroom teachers, facility requirements, and an increase in instructional materials; $2.4 million will be invested in supports for early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder; $30.8 million to fund improvements to New Brunswick’s inclusive education system; $8.7 million to be invested in supports for improved literacy and numeracy; $4.4 million to support language acquisition of newcomer students; $2 million to be invested in student access to healthy foods in schools without an existing program; $14.8 million to address cost pressures associated with energy, transportation and contracted services; Up to $8.4 million to be invested in operational funding for public universities; $7.6 million to increase loan and bursary programs for post-secondary students requiring financial assistance."

Excerpt: "The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, Andrew Furey, today announced that Newfoundland and Labrador families are now benefitting from $10-a-day regulated child care – three years ahead of the national target. With $10-a-day child care, families are now saving an estimated $6,300 per year for each child in care. Newfoundland and Labrador also announced the opening of the first pre-kindergarten centres in the province. Supported by federal funding, these pre-kindergarten centres will allow more children and families across the province to access high-quality, affordable, flexible, and inclusive early learning and child care."

Excerpt: "Families in rural Saskatchewan with young children will have access to further mobile early learning opportunities, thanks to an additional $405,000 investment from the Governments of Saskatchewan and Canada. Funding for KidsFirst Regional programming was $823,500 in 2022-23. This additional investment, recently provided to KidsFirst Regional areas increases the total program funding to $1.2 million. KidsFirst Regional travels to communities across the province bringing unique learning opportunities to children up to age five with programs such as take-home literacy kits, story walks and pop-up preschool events. This increase in funding will allow KidsFirst Regional to reach more children in their own communities with learning initiatives that focus on child development, literacy, nutrition and health and well-being."

Excerpt: "Operating grants will be increased and aligned for both designated early learning child-care centres and homes. Grants will increase to $15 a day per occupied infant space. This is meant to improve availability for these spaces after families and stakeholders identified finding infant care as a significant obstacle to workforce participation, particularly for women. Grants for preschool spaces will increase to $3 a day per occupied space. Additionally, effective April 1, the market fee threshold – which guides operators in setting daily fees – will increase by eight per cent to reflect the 2022 consumer price index. Operators receive funding from the government to offset the low-fee policy for families. Out-of-pocket fees paid by families, which were reduced by an average of 50 per cent in June 2022, will not be affected by this increase."

Excerpt: "The Governments of Saskatchewan and Canada are pleased to announce that parent fees for regulated child care in the province will be reduced to $10 a day starting April 1, 2023. Saskatchewan is one of the first Canadian provinces to achieve this milestone, which is three years ahead of schedule as outlined in the Canada-Saskatchewan Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement to bring down child care fees to $10 day by 2025-26. "The Government of Saskatchewan is committed to investing in affordable, inclusive and high-quality child care that provides children with a positive start in life while also giving parents the flexibility and choice to build both a family and career," Education Minister Dustin Duncan said. Parents whose children are under the age of six and attend regulated child care on a full-time basis can expect to pay $217.50 per month. The fee reductions will result in families saving an average of $395 to $573 per month for each child under six from the average comparable fees as of March 31, 2021."

Excerpt: "As part of the Manitoba government’s ongoing efforts to be a national leader in affordable and accessible child care, Premier Heather Stefanson and Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Wayne Ewasko announced today Manitoba has reached a historic milestone in which Manitoba families will pay a maximum of $10 a day for children 12 years and under for regular hours of care, beginning April 2."

Excerpt: "Since 2019 the Department of Education has launched a number of initiatives to address the gaps in Yukon’s education system and to improve student outcomes. These include: Launching the Universal Child Care model; Launching enhanced early kindergarten and full day kindergarten in most rural communities; Working with the Chiefs Committee on Education to establish the First Nation School Board; Finalizing a Collaboration Framework with Yukon First Nations; Completing the Review of Inclusive and Special Education; Advancing the Reimagining Inclusive and Special Education (RISE) work plan, which was developed with partners; Launching the Ready-to-Learn Schools initiative; Creating a data sharing agreement with Yukon First Nations and releasing publicly available student data reports; Initiating work and engagement on a Student Outcomes Strategy, which will look at root causes of poor student outcomes, develop targets and evaluate progress on closing gaps."