Policy Monitor

Excerpt: "Manitoba’s Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) Wage Grid is designed to support licensed and funded child care facilities in offering accessible, quality child care by recognizing the valuable contributions of the early learning and child care workforce in helping children learn, grow, and develop to their fullest potential. The ELCC Wage Grid provides guidance to licensed and funded early learning and child care facilities in developing equitable and competitive salary scales across employee positions/classifications. As the legal entity and authority, the board of directors of a non-profit child care centre is responsible for establishing wages. In family and group child care homes that employ staff, the licence holder is responsible for establishing wages. This approach preserves the authority of boards and child care home licence holders, while ensuring consistent and better wages are provided to the early learning and child care workforce. The Target Hourly Wage is the expected amount to be paid to staff based on their position/classification. Funding provided through the Wage Grid Supplement must be used to help meet the new Target wages on the 2025/26 Wage Grid for all position/classification levels on a facility’s salary scale."

Excerpt: "Further to the memo communication of November 26, 2024, regarding the Ontario Child Care and Early Years Funding Guidelines (“the Guidelines”), I am writing with additional updates to support municipal planning for 2025 and beyond, including: Results of the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) space target
recalibration exercise; Information on the Early Learning and Child Care Infrastructure Fund; Updated 2025 Allocations; Updates to the Guidelines."

Excerpt: " The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) implemented today an increase of $3.5 million in Dedicated Wage Funding and a permanent increase of $664,000 in Flexible Funding to support the Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) Sector. The Dedicated Wage Funding is intended to increase wages to early childhood educators working in licensed centre-based early learning and child care facilities. This funding represents a significant increase to the wage grid and increases the minimum that all early childhood educators in centre-based facilities must be paid by approximately $9/hour."

Excerpt: "In response to the devastating outbreak, Alberta’s government established an external review panel to identify ways to strengthen food safety legislation and inspection processes in kitchens servicing licensed child-care facilities. The review panel submitted its final report in the summer of 2024, outlining 12 main recommendations and 27 sub-recommendations. Immediate action was taken to begin to address key recommendations, including establishing clear expectations and a framework for public health inspections. Now, Alberta’s government is taking further steps to strengthen food safety in licensed child-care facilities. Starting March 26, Albertans are invited to participate in an online survey to help inform the implementation of the review panel’s recommendations and Alberta’s public health legislation, regulations, and policies related to food safety."

Excerpt: "More than $62 million is being invested to create more than 750 new licensed child care spaces throughout B.C. through the accelerated space-creation programs. Once operational, these spaces will be eligible for the government’s fee reduction program, ensuring affordability for families. "As Langford continues to grow, ensuring affordable and high-quality child care spaces for families in our community remains a top priority,” said Scott Goodmanson, mayor of Langford. “We are grateful for the support from both the provincial and federal governments in addressing this need and helping us move forward. Partnerships like these are essential for achieving our shared goals.” Additionally, between March 1 and April 1, 2025, families will benefit from 770 new $10-a-day spaces at 22 child care centres throughout B.C., including in Surrey, Parksville and Williams Lake."

Excerpt: "The progress report highlights the Department of Education's dedication to meaningful systemic changes designed to improve student outcomes. Since 2019, the Department of Education has launched several initiatives to address the gaps in the Yukon’s education system and to improve student outcomes. These include: launching the Universal Child Care model; launching enhanced early kindergarten and full day kindergarten in most rural communities; working with the Chiefs Committee on Education to establish the First Nation School Board; finalizing a Collaboration Framework with Yukon First Nations; completing the Review of Inclusive and Special Education; advancing the Reimagining Inclusive and Special Education (RISE) work plan, which was developed with partners; developing a Comprehensive Mental Health and Wellness Approach that aligns with the Yukon’s Forward Together: Mental Wellness Strategy; launching the Ready-to-Learn Schools initiative; creating a data sharing agreement with Yukon First Nations and releasing publicly available student data reports; and initiating work and engagement on an Integrated Outcome for Yukon Learner Strategy, which will look at root causes of poor student outcomes, develop targets and evaluate progress on closing gaps."

Excerpt: "Education and Early Childhood Learning reflects an increase of $247 million from the prior year budget, largely due to negotiating fair deals with educators and adding 630 more educators to the schools, increasing operating funding for schools by nearly five per cent to address growing enrolment, increased classroom
needs, a universal food program to help Manitoba kids learn, as well as a continued commitment to extending
the $10-a-day child care program to school-aged children on non-school days."

Excerpt: "The 2025-26 Budget delivers increased opportunities and support for kindergarten to Grade 12 students, parents and teachers across Saskatchewan. It also funds the new teacher collective bargaining agreement while addressing growing student enrolment. 2025-26 Budget highlights: Over the last two years, the Government of Saskatchewan has invested more than $5 billion in kindergarten to Grade 12 education; For the upcoming fiscal year, the Ministry of Education will receive $3.5 billion, an increase of $183 million, or 5.5 per cent, over the previous year; $130 million to fund the new teacher collective agreement and address the pressures of growing student enrollment and the challenges facing today’s classrooms; Increase of $186 million, or 8.4 per cent, in school operating funding (total: $2.4 billion); $2 million for kindergarten to Grade 3 literacy; $413.3 million for early learning and child care. Delivering for families includes access to safe, reliable and affordable child care. The Government of Saskatchewan remains committed to adding more regulated home-based and centre-based child care spaces across Saskatchewan."

Excerpt: "The Sectoral Table on the Care Economy builds on the Government of Canada’s historic investments to strengthen social infrastructure. These investments have included transformative improvements in early learning and child care, improved tax support for caregivers through the Canada caregiver credit, and improved access to long-term care and other continuing care services through the Aging with Dignity agreements signed with each province and territory."

Excerpt: "To provide the support students and teachers need and help stabilize classroom learning environments, the government is investing an additional $32.4 million for educational assistants and behavioural intervention mentors. Other investments include: An additional $19 million for a school lunch program, using local foods where possible; $10 million to ensure children and youth with exceptional needs and trauma receive consistent levels of high-quality support; Nearly $8.7 million to support early detection and intervention in matters where the well-being of children or youth may be at risk, using the child-centred approach at the core of the Child and Youth Well-Being Act; $200 million over five years as part of a larger program to subsidize more than 17,000 child-care spaces across various programs; An increase of nearly $16.4 million for more teachers to help address growth in student enrolment; $4 million to increase teacher recruitment and retention and address the shortage of teachers; An increase of just over $2.1 million for academic support teachers."

Excerpt: "The Department of Education’s Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) division is accepting funding proposals aimed at increasing licensed child care spaces across the territory. Over $6 million in federal funding is available to support projects that strengthen access to quality early learning child care for children aged 0-6. This program is already making a significant impact in Nunavut. The newly-expanded Iqaluit Inuktitut daycare Tumikuluit Saipaaqivik in Apex has created 16 additional spaces for children with the support of this program. Additionally, funding has been provided to support the active renovation of the highly-anticipated new licensed child care centre for 20 children in Grise Fiord. The department is committed to creating 238 new licensed child care spaces by March 2026. Since signing the Canada-wide ELCC agreement, Nunavut has created 181 new licensed child care spaces, resulting in a total gain of 104, as some existing spaces are no longer available. Even more spaces are on the way as we continue to expand access for families."

Excerpt: "The Government of Nunavut’s Department of Education is pleased to announce a five-year extension of federal early learning and child care funding agreements totaling $109.9 million. The extension of these funding agreements will support the ongoing implementation of important Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) initiatives: $10-a-day Child Care to keep child care affordable; ELCC Wage Scale to value and strengthen the workforce; ELCC Infrastructure Funding Program to increase access to licensed child care; Support inclusion and equity in ELCC programs; Support the development and delivery of high quality ELCC programs through the ELCC Quality Framework Action Plan."