Latest News & Stories

Excerpt: "Polling indicates Canadians understand and value public education, placing it only behind health care as a public good. As such we legislate it as a child’s right, invest in it and provide public oversight. Canadians are less familiar with childcare and are unsure where responsibility lies for its provision."

Excerpt: "Every child deserves to have the best start in life. Over the past three years, the government has helped to create 56,000 new licensed child care spaces. Within the next five years, it will help to create another 100,000 spaces, so that working families can find quality, affordable care. Your government will also make it easier for parents to find and use the services their children need, whether they are before-and-after-school programs, drop-in centres or more licensed child care spaces."

Presented by Kerry McCuaig, Atkinson Centre Fellow In Early Childhood Policy, September 12, 2016, to the PEI cabinet and deputy ministers, PEI.

Excerpt: "Ontario is investing more than $23 million to build 35 new licensed child care rooms across the province, delivering on its commitment to build safe, high-quality, licensed child care spaces for Ontario families."

The plans, entitled Everyone at Their Best for the anglophone sector and Donnons à nos enfants une longueur d’avance for the francophone sector, identify objectives for the early learning and education system and establish clear expectations for standards and performance.

Excerpt: "Budget 2016 proposes to introduce a teacher and early childhood educator school supply tax credit for 2016 and subsequent taxation years. This measure will allow an employee who is an eligible educator to claim a 15% refundable tax credit based on an amount of up to $1,000 of purchases of eligible teaching supplies by the employee in a taxation year."

Excerpt: "This new plan provides a picture of our current services and challenges in Waterloo Region, which is based on input and feedback from parents, service providers and child care operators."

Excerpt: "We have two recommendations with respect to childcare. The first is aimed at developing a system to meet the needs of working women who are trying to get, keep, or extend their hours of work, or advance in their jobs and careers. The second addresses immediate pressures and gaps in the current system that have been identified."

Valuing Children, Families and Childcare Report: The task force had a mandate to provide a path for creating the right conditions for child care and to suggest ways to address the challenges parents face in obtaining access to quality and affordable child care services.

Excerpt: "Indira Naidoo-Harris, MPP for Halton, becomes Associate Minister of Education (Early Years and Child Care). She will lead the government's efforts, in partnership with the Minister of Education, to build a high-quality, accessible and affordable early years and child care system that supports choice and flexibility for parents and promotes healthy development for children."

Excerpt: "Ontario has filed a regulation to end fees for child care wait lists to improve the accessibility of child care and make life easier for families. The ban will take effect September 1, 2016, and will prevent licensed child care centres and home child care agencies from charging fees or requiring deposits to join child care wait lists. The regulatory amendments also require licensed child care providers to: Develop a public wait list policy that clearly explains how children on a wait list are offered admission; Ensure wait list status is made available to families, in a manner that protects the confidentiality of their personal information."

Why grooming the next line of university presidents matters more than ever.