Question Period Note: CHILD CARE (ELCC)

Early Years Study 4 – report released by the Margaret and Wallace McCain Family Foundation on February 20, 2020

• To help Canadian children get the best start in life and better support Canadian families, Budgets 2016 and 2017 announced investments of $7.5 billion over 11 years, starting in 2017-2018, to support and create more high-quality, affordable child care across the country.

• Results to date of our investments with provinces and territories suggest that 38,000 more affordable child care spaces have been created, representing 95% of the March 2020 target of 40,000 spaces.

• We are working collaboratively with the provinces and territories to implement the next generation of bilateral agreements – and discuss next steps on new federal commitments for families.

• Federal-Provincial/Territorial (F-P/T) governments have recognized the importance of ELCC for a number of years, negotiating a series of F-P/T agreements, including the National Children’s Agenda (1997), the First Ministers’ Agreement on Early Childhood Development (2000), the Aboriginal Early Childhood Development Agreement (2002), the Multilateral Framework on Early Learning and Child Care (2003), and bilateral agreements-in-principle (2005) with nine of ten provinces. In 2006, the federal government replaced the bilateral agreements with direct support to families and further increased the Canada Social Transfer in 2007 by $250 million per year to create child care spaces.

• Since then, many provinces and territories (P/Ts) have made significant investments in ELCC. However, challenges remain with respect to availability, affordability and quality of child care services, particularly in some areas and among certain populations. Recent statistics show that only one in four children in Canada has access to regulated child care. Intervening early to promote child development from the prenatal period to age six can have long-term benefits that can extend throughout children’s lives. Research shows that there are positive relationships between quality early learning and child care, parental labour market participation and child development outcomes. This is particularly true for vulnerable children and children from low-income families.

• On June 12, 2017, Federal, Provincial/Territorial Ministers announced an agreement on a Multilateral Early Learning and Child Care Framework to make enhancements to provincial and territorial early learning and child care systems that will improve the lives of Canadian children and their families. The implementation of this Framework was supported by Government of Canada investments announced in Budgets 2016 and 2017 totaling $7.5 billion over 11 years to support and create more high-quality, affordable child care across the country.

• The federal government has entered into three year bilateral agreements with each province and territory providing $1.2 billion from 2017-18 to 2019-20 for early learning and child care programs. Governments are reporting annually on progress made in relation to the Framework and bilateral agreements. In August 2019, the Government of Canada released the first National Progress Report on Early Learning and Child Care.

• The Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Framework, co-developed with Indigenous partners and jointly released on September 17, 2018 complements the Multilateral Early Learning and Child Care Framework.

• The Liberal Party of Canada’s 2019 platform commitments on early learning and child care state: We’ve already created tens of thousands of new pre-school child care spaces, and will move forward with creating up to 250,000 more before and after school spaces for kids under 10, with at least 10 per cent of these new spaces set aside for care during extended hours. To help families with the high cost of care, we will also lower child care fees for before and after school programs by 10 per cent across the board. More than a million families will benefit from these lower fees. For an Ontario family of four with two kids, it will mean about $800 back in their pockets, every year. We will also move forward with more support for our early childhood educators, to ensure that across the country, they are better paid and trained to take care of our kids. This means lower tuition costs for people getting their early childhood educator degree, and extra help to cover the costs for early childhood educators seeking further training. And to ensure that every parent – no matter where they live – has access to quality, affordable child care, we will work with provinces and territories to create a national secretariat that will lay the groundwork for a pan-Canadian child care system.

• As part of the Minister Hussen’s mandate letter, child care priorities include:
o Work with the provinces and territories to invest in the creation of up to 250,000 additional before- and after-school spaces for kids under 10. At least 10 per cent of these new spaces should allow for care during extended hours. You will also invest in lowering child care fees for before- and after-school programs by 10 per cent.
o Work with the provinces and territories to provide more support for early childhood educators. This includes lowering costs for those getting their early childhood educator degree and/or additional training.
o Work with the provinces and territories to create a national secretariat to lay the groundwork for a pan-Canadian childcare system.
Background on the Early Years Study 4 released by the Margaret & Wallace McCain Family Foundation
• The Margaret & Wallace McCain Family Foundation released the Early Years Study 4 on February 20, 2020. The study is the fourth report released by the foundation on the state of early childhood learning and provides the social, economic and scientific rationale for public investments in young children including the long-term benefits, and recommends that all children be entitled to an early education from age two.

• The reports calls on Canada to invest an additional $8 billion annually (from $12.1 billion to $20 billion annually) in order to reach OECD average of ELCC enrolment of 70% (report estimates current average enrolment for children 0-5 in Canada is 53%). The report estimates federal funding at $1.8 billion (through the Canada Social Transfer and ELCC bilateral agreements) of the $12.1 billion spent and calls on the federal government to increase spending by $1 billion annually.

• The report also indicates that a future ELCC system in Canada should be guided by the following principles:
1. ELCC as an entitlement – legal entitlement (without being mandatory) to emphasize educational nature and protect investments from political shifts and economic downturns
2. Universal provision – with special outreach to marginalized groups
3. Strong public infrastructure – ELCC should have it’s own well resourced provincial/territorial departments (within Education to ensure continuum of learning), workforce should be supported/compensated
4. Adequate public funding – cost should not be a barrier, free or low-cost options, affordability needs to include middle-income families.

• In 2011, the Early Years Study 3 first introduced the Early Childhood Education Index, which is a tool that examines the state of early education across the provinces. In 2011, most provinces scored toward the bottom of the assessment. By 2017, most provinces had shown improvements. Eight provinces passed the halfway mark on the Index’s 15-point scale. Prince Edward Island comes in first with 11 points, closely followed by Quebec with 10 and New Brunswick and Ontario with 9.5. The other provinces range between 5 and 8.5 points.

• One in four children have access to regulated early learning and child care (ELCC) nationally.

• Budget 2016 and 2017 announced an investment of $7.5 billion over 11 years, starting in 2017-2018, to support and create more high-quality, affordable child care across the country, particularly for families more in need. This includes investments of:
• $95 million to close data gaps to better understand child care challenges and needs and track progress;
• $100 million in ELCC innovation; and
• $1.7 billion over 10 years starting in 2018-19 to strengthen culturally appropriate early learning and child care for Indigenous children under the Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Framework.

• The Government entered into three-year bilateral agreements with each province and territory and is providing $1.2 billion from 2017-2018 to 2019-2020. These investments are supporting the creation of up to 40,000 more affordable child care spaces by March 2020. Results to date suggest that 38,000 more affordable child care spaces have been created through federal investments, which is 95% of the March 2020 target of 40,000 spaces. Families in need have particularly benefitted. As a result, thousands of parents are more likely to enter the labour force once child care is made more affordable.

• As part of the Minister Hussen’s mandate letter, child care priorities include:
• Work with the provinces and territories to invest in the creation of up to 250,000 additional before- and after-school spaces for kids under 10. At least 10 per cent of these new spaces should allow for care during extended hours. You will also invest in lowering child care fees for before- and after-school programs by 10 per cent.
• Work with the provinces and territories to provide more support for early childhood educators. This includes lowering costs for those getting their early childhood educator degree and/or additional training.
• Work with the provinces and territories to create a national secretariat to lay the groundwork for a pan-Canadian childcare system.