Policy Monitor

Excerpt: "Under the new program, the Government of Yukon provides licensed operators with $700 per month for each child in full-time child care, which must be fully and immediately applied to reduce the monthly payments made by parents (this is pro-rated for children in part-time child care). The new program also includes fee increase limits to ensure that fees charged to parents remain both sustainable and affordable and in line with rates charged by other local providers delivering the same type of child care. Under Yukon’s universal child care program, average parent fees are now less than $10 per day, among the lowest in Canada."

Excerpt: "BC will allocate funds through its existing contract to support students for 3 to 4 academic years (fiscal year 2021 to 2022 through fiscal year 2023 to 2024 or fiscal year 2024 to 2025) and will ensure collaboration with Indigenous partners and rights holders on approaches to funding specific to Indigenous students. Students will continue to be able to apply for the student bursary stream at $500 per course (maximum of 8 courses per semester) to assist with tuition and living costs. Individuals actively working in child care who wish to upgrade their credentials will be able to continue to apply for the workforce bursary stream of up to $5,000 per semester to assist with tuition and other expenses such as loss of wages or travel. Amounts for the Indigenous bursary stream will be determined in consultation with Indigenous partners. Students can apply for bursaries for each semester they are taking courses, so one student can potentially receive multiple bursaries. BC commits to continuing to report out on outcomes for as long as the program is available through this funding."

Excerpt: "Challenges related to training, recruitment and retention of qualified ELCC staff is seen across Nunavut. Very few ELCC educators have any type of formal early childhood educators (ECE) training which reduces the desire to work within the field. Many centres hire staff who are willing to work for low wages, but due to lack of training and competitive wages, many chose to leave the field within a short time. This creates a revolving door of ELCC educators which decreases the ability to keep centres open to full capacity and provide high quality childcare. Competitive wages are needed to recruit and retain interested people to work within the ELCC sector. Enhanced training and understanding of children’s needs, programming and day to day operations of a high-quality childcare system is also highly needed. Providing specialized training to support the growth of understanding and services provided to children and competitive wages is key to the growth and stability of ELCC in Nunavut."

Excerpt: "Today the Provincial Government announced more than 30 locations for a pilot Pre-Kindergarten early learning program that will open in 2022-23. The pilot will result in approximately 600 new regulated child care spaces in communities throughout the province. These locations are the first in the Pre-Kindergarten early learning program created through the Federal-Provincial Early Learning Action Plan, set for full implementation by 2025-26. The full list of locations in the pilot can be found in the backgrounder below. As a regulated full-day early learning program, families will pay the regulated child care rate for each child in Pre-Kindergarten ($15 per day for the remainder of 2022, $10 per day starting in 2023). The program will run full-time, including during the summer months. The Pre-Kindergarten program will be run by not-for-profit organization(s), and registration dates for families will be announced by these operator(s) once opening dates are finalized for each site."

Excerpt: "Alberta agrees to use funds provided by Canada under this Agreement to support the expansion of licensed child care, and prioritize not-for-profit (including publically delivered and family day home child care) early learning and child care programs and services,for children 0 to K, where: licensed programs and services are defined as those that meet standards that are established and/or monitored by Alberta; not-for-profit providers/operations, which includes publically delivered operations, are defined as those that provide child care services to a community for a purpose other than generating a profit, typically improving family and/or child well being and/or development. Providers may generate a profit, but the surplus earnings, or other resources, are directed towards improving child care services rather than distributed for the personal benefit of owners, members, investors or to enhance asset growth. Early learning and child care programs and services are defined as those supporting direct care and early learning for children in settings including, but not limited to, regulated child care centres, regulated family child care homes, early learning centres, preschools and nursery schools."

Excerpt: "Readily accessible and affordable early learning and child care gives children a strong foundation, allows parents to participate in the workforce and leads to stronger families. Building on hundreds of millions of dollars in investment to date, Budget 2022 includes $94.7 million through the Provincial-Federal Action Plan, including: Almost $46 million to continue the reduction in daily fees to $10 per day by 2023; $16 million for the creation of new regulated early learning spaces, including the launch of a pre-kindergarten pilot program. Supports plans to create nearly 6,000 new regulated early learning spaces by 2026; $3 million to increase seats in post-secondary Early Childhood Education programs; $400,000 to support a wage grid analysis and implementation that will ensure early childhood educators are paid a wage that reflects their important work."

Excerpt: "Investing $326 million over two years to make child care more affordable and accessible for Manitoba parents; Creating 716 spaces in new child-care centres and supporting 50 new home-based spaces this year; Investing in new schools, with a new goal to build 22 new schools by 2027."

Excerpt: "Infant, toddler and preschool spaces are limited across the province increasing demand for spaces. As of 2021, there are 5,498 regulated infant, toddler and preschool spaces. By working with municipalities, and not-for-profit organizations under the Child Care Capacity Program through work with the soon to be created Early Learning and Child Care Evaluation and Research Team, communities most in need of infant, toddler and preschool spaces will be identified."

Excerpt: "The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development is forecast to be $49.6 million higher than Budget primarily due to $33.0 million for fully recoverable expenses related to the 5-year agreement with the federal government for universal childcare, $10.9 million in fully recoverable Early Childhood Workforce training initiatives, and $6.1 million in COVID-19 related expenses mainly in operating support grants to the childcare sector."

Excerpt: "Child care staff employed by Licensees with maximum wage increases specified under the Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, 2019 (PSPSFGA) may not be eligible for an increase in compensation to the wage floor or to the $1 per hour annual wage increase. Licensees are required to meet any applicable obligations under the PSPSFGA."

Excerpt: "The Wage Enhancement Program provides funding to operators to help offset the salaries of early childhood educators. It currently provides a top up of $3.15 per hour for an educator without recognized formal training and $7.25 per hour for an educator with college or university training. This program is offered to all licensed facilities who must provide this wage top up over and above the minimum wage which is currently at $11.75 per hour."

Excerpt: "As part of Alberta’s approach to supporting inclusive child care, an additional $3.6 million in funding is being provided through a bilateral agreement with the federal government, bringing the investment to $7 million. Funding will go to five regional partner agencies across Alberta. These agencies will work with licensed child care operators so they can better support children with special needs. Continuing on the work they have done over the past few years, $2.7 million is also being invested into GRIT to continue training on their inclusive child care model across the province."