Question Period Note: EARLY LEARNING AND CHILD CARE INFRASTRUCTURE FUND AND THE CANADA-WIDE EARLY LEARNING AND CHILD CARE SYSTEM

How will the new Early Learning and Child Care Infrastructure Fund announced in Budget 2022 complement investments provided for the Canada-wide ELCC system through Budget 2021?

• Last year, the Government of Canada announced a transformative investment of over $27 billion over five years to build a Canada-wide early learning and child care system with provinces and territories.

• As we work with provinces and territories to implement the Canada-wide agreements, infrastructure funding has been raised as a challenge for non-profit and public providers.

• In response, Budget 2022 proposes to provide $625 million over four years, beginning in 2023-24, for an Early Learning and Child Care Infrastructure Fund.

• This funding will enable provinces and territories to make additional child care investments, including the building of new facilities.

IF PRESSED
• Quebec has been a pioneer in early learning and child care in Canada.

• This new funding will be part of an asymmetrical agreement with the province of Quebec that will allow for Quebec to further enhance its child care system.

• Budget 2021 provided early learning and child care infrastructure investments to support Indigenous communities.

The Government of Canada made a transformative investment of over $27 billion over five years, as part of Budget 2021 to build a Canada-wide early learning and Child Care system with provinces and territories. Combined with other investments including in Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care, up to $30 billion over five years will be provided in support of early learning and child care. Adding previous investments announced since 2015, this means that as of 2025-2026, a minimum of $9.2 billion will be provided every year – permanently – for Early Learning and Child Care and Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care.

The goal is to bring fees for regulated child care down to $10 per day on average within the next five years. By the end of 2022, the Government is aiming to reduce average fees for regulated early learning and child care by 50 per cent to make it more affordable for families. These targets would apply everywhere outside of Quebec, where prices are already affordable through its well-established system.

In total, the Government of Canada is aiming to create approximately 250,000 new child care spaces through Canada-wide agreements with provinces and territories, and already achieved its goal of creating 40,000 more affordable child care spaces before 2020 through the 2017-18 and 2019-20 Early Learning and Child Care Agreements. These new licensed spaces will be predominantly among not-for-profit, public, and family-based child care providers.
The Government of Canada has signed agreements with every province and territory to deliver on its promise to build a Canada-wide affordable, inclusive, and high-quality early learning and child care system.

To support the implementation of the Canada-wide early learning and child care system, Budget 2022 proposes to provide $625 million over four years, beginning in 2023-24, to Employment and Social Development Canada for an Early Learning and Child Care Infrastructure Fund.

Funding Profile
Fiscal Year 2023-2024 2024-2025 2025-2026 2026-2027 Total
$75 million $150 million $200 million $200 million $625 million

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