Policy Monitor

Excerpt: "In less than a year, the federal government reached agreements with all 13 provinces and territories. This means, by the end of 2022, that Canadian families will have seen their child care fees reduced by an average of 50 per cent. By 2025-26, it will mean an average child care fee of $10-a-day for all regulated child care spaces across Canada. Most provinces and territories are also moving ahead with faster than anticipated initiatives to support access to affordable high-quality child care spaces.

Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories have already cut child care fees in half. In Ontario, fees will be reduced by an initial 25 per cent retroactive to April 1, 2022. Yukon has already put in place a $10-a-day target for child care spaces as of April 1, 2021, five years ahead of schedule. Prince Edward Island is targeting $10-a-day spaces by the end of 2024."

Excerpt: "On April 1, 2022, the eligibility for these wage enhancements expanded to ensure more ECEs will benefit. Previously, the $4-an-hour wage enhancement program was only available to front-line ECEs working directly with children. Budget 2022 is providing nearly $80 million over the next three years to expand this enhancement to all ECEs directly employed by licensed child care programs, including Supported Child Development and Aboriginal Supported Child Development professionals with ECE certification."

Excerpt: "Mr. Speaker, over the course of the pandemic we have seen the importance of keeping our childcare facilities open as parents continued to work throughout the various stages of the pandemic. Families are also seeing rising costs and household budgets are being squeezed. One way our government can help families deal with the current high inflation environment is to make childcare more affordable. Through our bilateral agreements with the Government of Canada, we will be investing $110 million in our early learning and childcare sector in 2022–2023, and over the next five years, we will invest a total of approximately $500 million. These agreements will help lower the cost of childcare for New Brunswick families, while also respecting the investments we have already made in building a world-class early learning education system."

Excerpt: "To improve assistance and services for families and youth, the government is announcing funding totalling $256 million in this budget to: improve the quality of the educational childcare services network; rovide support to families with special needs and improve targeted services for them; support young people. The financial impact of these measures is $109 million, in light of amounts announced elsewhere in this budget, such as the implementation of the 2022‑2027 government action plan in the community action field."

Excerpt: "Families will see their fees for accessing licensed, funded child care reduced by 25 per cent, on average, starting Friday, April 1. Through the Nova Scotia Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, parents will save anywhere between $3 and $10.50 per day, per child, based on the child’s age."

Excerpt: "Prince Edward Island agrees to utilize funding in licensed/regulated settings to support the attraction and retention of a qualified workforce, including through training, professional development, wages, bursary programs, tuition support and grants."

Excerpt: "Early Learning and Child Care preschool spaces coverage in New Brunswick is currently 47%. The largest gaps are spaces in rural communities and infant spaces. 16% of New Brunswick communities have less than 25% coverage for children ages five (5) years and under, prior to school entry. The majority of these low coverage areas are rural communities. Many rural communities in New Brunswick have a higher level of seasonal employment which can have an impact on the demand for services. New Brunswick is committed to creating new spaces in rural communities and will consult on ways to best serve these communities’ unique needs."

Excerpt: "Public Sector Accounting Standards require the government reporting entity to consolidate its total budget on a lineby-line basis using the same accounting principles and presentation as it uses to report its actual financial results. This document provides the consolidated budget for the Government of Nunavut reporting entity."

Excerpt: "The 2022-23 Ministry of Education Budget provides record support of $2.9 billion, an increase of $219.9 million or 8.3 per cent over last year, for Prekindergarten to Grade 12 students, early learners and school and child care staff."

Excerpt: "Ontario and Canada have signed a $13.2 billion agreement that will lower fees for families and deliver an average of $10 a day child care by September 2025."

Excerpt: "To support the child care sector implement these new measures, Ontario is committing $395M from 2022/23 to 2026/27 to help achieve the average of $10 /day commitment and to ensure child care workers for the 6-12 age group benefit from the wage increases committed to for child care workers for the 0-5 age group."

Excerpt: "Saskatchewan's 27 school divisions will receive $1.99 billion in school operating funding for the 2022-23 school year, an increase of $29.4 million or 1.5 per cent. This increase will: provide an additional $6.0 million for learning supports for students; and fully fund the 2.0 per cent salary increase for teachers as part of the Teachers' Collective Bargaining Agreement."