Question Period Note: EARLY LEARNING AND CHILD CARE

How many spaces will be created under the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care system?

• The Government of Canada made a transformative investment of close to $30 billion over five years to build a Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care system.
• The Government of Canada has agreements in place with every province and territory to implement a Canada-wide system.

• Funding provided through agreements supports the creation of over 250,000 new child care spaces across the country by March 2026 to give families affordable child care options, no matter where they live.

As part of Budget 2016 and Budget 2017, the Government of Canada committed $7.5 billion over 11 years to support and create more high-quality, affordable child care across the country. Since the first agreements were signed in 2017, a significant amount of work has been undertaken across the country. The target of 40,000 affordable child care spaces was achieved and agreements have also increased access to training and professional development for the early childhood workforce.

The 2020 Fall Economic Statement announced key early investments to lay the groundwork for a Canada-wide child care system, in partnership with provinces, territories and Indigenous peoples. This includes investments to establish a federal secretariat on early learning and child care; supporting the existing federal Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Secretariat; making the early learning and child care funding announced in Budget 2017 permanent at 2027-2028 levels; providing $420 million in 2021-2022 for the provinces and territories to support the attraction and retention of early childhood educators; and an additional $75 million in 2021-2022 to improve the quality and accessibility of Indigenous child care programs.

Building on investments announced in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement, 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-a-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 child care more affordable for families. These targets apply everywhere outside of Quebec which already has an affordable, well-established system, and Yukon which has already achieved a $10-a-day system.

Province/Territory Space creation commitments in Canada-wide ELCC agreements by end of 2025-2026
Newfoundland and Labrador 5,895
Prince Edward Island* 452
Nova Scotia 9,500
New Brunswick 3,400
Quebec 30,000
Ontario 76,700 from 2019 levels
Manitoba 23,000
Saskatchewan 28,000
Alberta 46,200
British Columbia 30,000
Yukon 110
Northwest Territories 300
Nunavut 238
Total 253,795 new spaces**

PEI’s targets factor in part-time space creation. Numbers were rounded for this table.
*Includes Ontario’s 15,000 spaces created between 2019 and 2021.

The Government of Canada has signed agreements with every province and territory to deliver a Canada-wide ELCC system. Nearly all of Canada’s provinces and territories have announced initial child care fee reductions to support the affordability goal of the Canada-wide ELCC system.

The 2021 Mandate Letter for the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development commits to creating 250,000 new child care spaces.

Canada has signed an asymmetrical agreement with Quebec, where prices are already affordable through its well-established system.

To support the implementation of the Canada-wide ELCC system, Budget 2022 has proposed infrastructure funding to enable provinces and territories to make additional child care investments, including the building of new facilities. Budget 2022 proposes to provide $625 million over four years, beginning in 2023-24, for an Early Learning and Child Care Infrastructure Fund. The new infrastructure funding will also be part of an asymmetrical agreement with Quebec to further enhance its child care system.

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