Policy Monitor

Excerpt: "We propose to spend $211 million directly on education-related programs in next year’s budget including $7.3 million in new funds. We cannot educate our children for their futures without teachers. This budget includes $4.7 million for increased teachers’ salary and benefits. We are also allocating funding for training for teachers to teach multi-grade classes and for enhanced supports for principals in small schools. Furthermore, we have committed $1.8 million for inclusive schooling and education for children with complex needs and for modernizing the K to 12 Curriculum."

Excerpt: "Budget 2022 brings B.C. closer than ever to government’s planned $10-a-day child care; Through a new agreement with the federal government, fees for full-day infant and toddler care will be reduced by 50% to an average of approximately $20 a day by the end of 2022; Budget 2022 builds on that investment by cutting average fees for preschool and before- and after-school care to less than $20 a day for the 2023-24 school year."

Excerpt: "Following through on child care: Budget 2022 provides $666 million in operating expense funding in 2022-23 for a total of over $2.6 billion dollars by 2024-25 in support of the child care agreement with the federal government; Since the program was announced, Alberta parents are already experiencing lower costs, with the price of child care targeted to average $10 per day by 2026; To ensure families can choose the child care that works best for them, 42,500 new licensed child care spaces will be added over the next five years; The Alberta Child and Family Benefit also provides up to $5,120 annually to lower income families."

Excerpt: "As part of the close to $98 million investment, $15.5 million in funding for this year prioritizes ongoing commitments made under previous agreements, including supporting: affordable child care by providing operating grant funding for over 1,800 spaces; diversity and inclusion through increased funding for Francophone and Indigenous programming and expanded supports for children with additional needs; and rural and northern communities to build sector capacity.

Under this extended agreement, Manitoba will also introduce two new initiatives to support the ELCC sector in the coming months. This includes: a Renovation Expansion Grant to provide funding for non-profit facilities to expand their existing spaces to meet community needs; and increased opportunities for child-care assistant certification training by improving access to the required 40-hours course through subsidized costs and expanded programming."

Excerpt: "Announced today, February 18, the additional funding will offset the 25 per cent fee reductions for parents. It also includes a one-time grant to support the freeze on parent fees. The new agreement will be offered to all child-care providers, including licensed centres that were previously unfunded or partially funded. By accepting the new agreement, centres will have access to the additional supports from the Province. The government’s total investment in the one-time grant is $1 million. The fee reductions have led to increased interest from families in child care, and the new agreement contains a commitment from operators to accept children where they can."

Excerpt: "Federal early childhood workforce funding will be allocated through several ECE support streams and may be adjusted incrementally to better support programs in high demand, including: $25.5 million to continue providing ECE student bursaries for the next three to four years; $11.6 million to support the development and delivery of a recruitment and retention incentive program to encourage new ECEs who become certified through the ECE Registry to work in the sector, and to improve information and understanding about ECE retention; $7.5 million in professional development, inclusion support and deaf/hard-of-hearing training, and peer mentoring, including $3 million to be funded through West Coast Child Care Resource Centre for bursaries to assist child care professionals in accessing affordable professional learning; $2.3 million toward a work-integrated approach that gives ECE students the opportunity to become certified while maintaining employment as a child care professional; $1.15 million for the dual credit program so high school students can more quickly get their ECE certification (with the Province contributing an additional $575,000 in 2021-22); and $750,000 to translate francophone ECE credentials or those from other countries to help certify new British Columbians to work as ECEs."

Excerpt: "EXPANDING CHILD CARE: The pandemic shone a light on how important reliable and affordable child care is. It gives kids an early start on the path to learning and it helps parents return to work and pursue opportunities. For too long, investing in child care was not the priority it should have been. Many parents felt left behind by rising fees and long waiting lists. Your government has been working hard to change that. Families are already benefiting from thousands of new spaces and saving up to $19,000 a year in lower fees. Your government will build on the progress made by more than doubling $10-a-day spaces and reducing average fees by as much as 50% by the end of this year. Our province is closer than ever to having the first new social program in a generation. A future where child care is a core service – available to every family that wants it, when they need it, at a price they can afford. As part of that work, your government will move responsibility for child care into the Ministry of Education this year, which will manage child care programs through new regional offices. This new, regional approach will allow your government to better understand local needs as it continues to build more spaces for families. Over time, this will bring certainty and reliability to child care. The same way that parents feel knowing that they have a public school to send their kids to."

Excerpt: "Manitoba is expanding eligibility to its Child Care Subsidy Program on Feb. 6, 2022, resulting in nearly half of regulated spaces being subsidized. This will reduce out-of-pocket parent fees for families with children in regulated child care by 30 per cent on average. This change ensures Manitoba is on track to achieve a key joint commitment in the Canada-Manitoba Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) agreement to reduce out-of-pocket parent fees by 50 per cent by Dec. 31, 2022."

Excerpt: "Nova Scotia will develop a new provincial organization that will manage all regulated child care in the province. A provincial executive director, regional directors and centre based managers/pedagogical leaders will lead the organization and be responsible for meeting mandated objectives as determined by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (EECD). The Province will provide the organization with an annual funding agreement to support all regulated child care centres and licensed family home child care agencies that fall under their mandate. Current regulated child care centres will transition from individual contracts with the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development to a new governance and infrastructure model on April 1, 2022. The organization will oversee contracts for or manage the overall delivery of provincial child care including managing child care spaces and need in community, ECE compensation and wages/benefits (labour relations), daily parent fees, and centre finances."

Excerpt: "The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, virtually joined the Premier of Nunavut, P.J. Akeeagok, today to announce an agreement that will support an average of $10 a day licensed child care in the territory by March 2024, two years ahead of the federal target. By the end of 2022, parent fees for licensed child care will be reduced by 50 per cent on average, saving families hundreds of dollars per month. This would mean a family in Iqaluit would save an estimated total of up to $14,000 per year on child care fees. This will apply to parents with children up to six years old in licensed child care spaces. Through the agreement, the governments of Canada and Nunavut will work together to improve access to quality, affordable, flexible, and inclusive early learning and child care programs and services. This includes creating 238 new licensed early learning and child care spaces by the end of March 2026, with federal funding of $66 million over five years."

Excerpt: "People looking to build careers in child care will have more educational opportunities with the addition of 147 early childhood educator (ECE) seats at eight public post-secondary institutions throughout the province."

Excerpt: "In addition to reduced fees, there will be 1,500 new not-for-profit child-care spaces beginning this fall, part of the plan for 9,500 new early learning and child-care spaces by March 31, 2026. The new spaces will be made available in more communities across Nova Scotia, with the goal of equitable access to affordable, accessible child care everywhere in the province. Communities with limited care options will soon have access to licensed child care for infants and toddlers, along with before and after school programs."