News & Stories: Policy Monitor

Excerpt: "Funding from the Safe Restart Agreement will be provided through a monthly grant to licensed early learning and child-care facilities that meet the following terms and conditions: using the funding to offset the cost associated with the impact of COVID-19; ensuring hours of operation meet the needs of parents to support workforce participation; ensuring licensed spaces are made available based on demand; and updating space availability monthly on the department’s Parent Portal."

Excerpt: "World-class education: $1.7 million to support the development and delivery of distance learning opportunities; $1.2 million to maintain the additional technicians put in place to provide technical support to teachers and students; $1 million to continue support of the Laptop Subsidy Program, helping an estimated 2,000 students access technology for the upcoming year; A wage increase of 75 cents per hour for qualified early childhood educators."

Excerpt: "Under the 2021–2022 to 2024–2025 Canada–New Brunswick Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, New Brunswick will continue to collaborate with the childcare sector and maintain the New Brunswick Early Learning facility designation to ensure all families and children in the province have access to high-quality, affordable child care in the official language of their choice. The agreement focuses on strengthening the early childhood workforce, particularly around inclusive practices through training and mentorship, while addressing recruitment and retention challenges. Actions include implementing a marketing campaign to promote the profession and establishing a process for the recognition of early childhood education credentials obtained outside of Canada."

Excerpt: "There is a strong desire for professional recognition to advance their profession. To that end, educators overwhelmingly reaffirmed the importance of a robust profession by having a regulated professional association to promote their profession, to be the voice with government and to regulate the standards of practice. Early Childhood Educators also recommended using the process of certification and pay equity to determine a wage scale."

Excerpt: "This agreement will fund critical services, and grow a strong and skilled workforce of early childhood educators, including through the creation of a wage grid and greater opportunities for professional development. The agreement will also support an early learning and child care system that is fully inclusive of children with disabilities and children needing enhanced or individual supports, and ensures all families have equitable access to high-quality, affordable early learning and child care."

Excerpt: "Updates to the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development’s Parent Portal will allow families to enrol their children in early learning and child-care facilities online, cutting down on paperwork for families and facility operators. “We have been working to expand the services offered through our Parent Portal to help support both families and operators,” said Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Dominic Cardy. “We are pleased to work with early learning and child-care facilities to launch online child enrolment, which we hope will save time for families and our dedicated early learning and child-care providers. This information will also help us in decisions to improve services, child-care subsidies, and programs for early learners.”"

Excerpt: "Early Learning and Child Care preschool spaces coverage in New Brunswick is currently 47%. The largest gaps are spaces in rural communities and infant spaces. 16% of New Brunswick communities have less than 25% coverage for children ages five (5) years and under, prior to school entry. The majority of these low coverage areas are rural communities. Many rural communities in New Brunswick have a higher level of seasonal employment which can have an impact on the demand for services. New Brunswick is committed to creating new spaces in rural communities and will consult on ways to best serve these communities’ unique needs."

Excerpt: "Early Childhood Educators approved for Level 1 will have an hourly wage increase from $19.00/hour to $23.47/hour. Through the Wage Support Program for Early Childhood Educators (WSP-ECE), this will increase the wage top up for Level 1 educators from $7.25 per hour to $11.72 per hour, representing a wage increase of 24%. Early Childhood Educators approved for Entry Level will have an hourly wage increase from $14.90/hour to $16.90/hour.Through the Wage Support Program for Early Childhood Educators (WSP-ECE), this will increase the wage top up for Entry Level from $3.15/hour to $5.15/hour, representing a wage increase of 13%."

Excerpt: "Mr. Speaker, over the course of the pandemic we have seen the importance of keeping our childcare facilities open as parents continued to work throughout the various stages of the pandemic. Families are also seeing rising costs and household budgets are being squeezed. One way our government can help families deal with the current high inflation environment is to make childcare more affordable. Through our bilateral agreements with the Government of Canada, we will be investing $110 million in our early learning and childcare sector in 2022–2023, and over the next five years, we will invest a total of approximately $500 million. These agreements will help lower the cost of childcare for New Brunswick families, while also respecting the investments we have already made in building a world-class early learning education system."

Excerpt: "A standardized low-fee model will determine the amount operators can charge families. Families with children aged five and under attending designated facilities can expect the following reductions to average out-of-pocket costs for full-day early learning and care: From $37.50 to $19 per day for infants in small urban and rural areas; From $41.30 to $21 per day for infants in large urban areas; From between $32.60 and $31.30 to $16 per day for preschool-aged children in small urban and rural areas; From between $36.70 and $35 to $18 per day for preschool-aged children in urban areas. “The Government of Canada’s goal is to ensure that, by the end of March 2026, all families in Canada, no matter where they live, will have access to regulated early learning and child care for an average of $10 a day,” said federal Families, Children and Social Development Minister Karina Gould."

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: "To improve access to good-quality, inclusive and affordable child care, $110 million will be invested in the early learning and child care sector in 2022-23. These investments aim to reduce fees at designated early learning and child-care facilities by 50 per cent this year, increase the wages of trained educators, and provide more professional learning opportunities for educators. This aligns with commitments made under the Canada-New Brunswick Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement."