Question Period Note: REPORT ON PROGRESS OF CANADA-WIDE AGREEMENTS

.  A report was published that stated “Federal effort to boost child care in three provinces off to slow start”.

In Budget 2021, the federal government announced more than $27 billion over five years to build a Canada-wide early learning and child care system with the provinces and territories.

Mister Speaker, thousands of families are already benefiting from the system, and many more will benefit as provinces and territories fulfil their commitments under the Canada-wide agreements to create over 250,000 child care spaces by 2025-2026.

We will continue to work to ensure families in Canada have access to affordable child care, no matter where they live.

If pressed on provincial goal status/achievements

The current commitment of the Canada-wide ELCC system is for provinces and territories to achieve an average of $10-a-day for regulated child care by March 2026.

Nearly half of Canada’s provinces and territories are delivering regulated child care for an average of $10-a-day, or less, and the others have reduced parent fees by at least 50%.

If pressed on provincial/territorial challenges or issues regarding implementation of the agreements

Each agreement’s Action Plan has a two-year space creation target, as well as a five-year space creation commitment. This approach balances the Canada-wide objectives with the flexibility provinces and territories need to create spaces in line with their child care priorities, and community needs

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

68,700

British Columbia

30,000

Yukon

110

Northwest Territories

300

Nunavut

238

Total

276,295 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. All of Canada’s provinces and territories have announced 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 committed 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 proposed infrastructure funding to enable provinces and territories to make additional child care investments, including the building of new facilities. Beginning in 2023-24, $625 million over four years will be provided 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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