Policy Monitor

Excerpt: "The Ministry of Education is offering a one-time grant to regulated and operational child care centres to assist them in recruiting and retaining qualified early childhood educators (ECEs). Funds awarded will be calculated at $145 per regulated child care space. This grant is supported by funding provided through the Canada-Saskatchewan Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement."

Excerpt: "Making life more affordable for people...through introducing an Early Learning and Child Care Act by the end of 2022, ensuring that childcare agreements have long-term protected funding that prioritizes non-profit and public spaces, to deliver high quality, affordable child care opportunities for families."

Excerpt: "The Governments of Canada and Saskatchewan are announcing the addition of 1,202 new licensed not-for-profit child care facility spaces in 21 Saskatchewan communities as they continue to support families by providing better access to high-quality, affordable, flexible and inclusive child care. These additional spaces are part of a shared goal to create 28,000 new child care spaces in the province by the end of March 2026. Today’s announcement follows the December 2021 expansion of 601 new spaces."

Excerpt: "In considering affordability, it is important to consider overall operating costs which are higher in the North and the increased cost of living for early childhood educators who are typically paid low wages. Any increases to wages, to address recruitment and retention, will need to be considered in offsetting operating costs for licensed early learning and child care programs."

Excerpt: "Early childhood educators are skilled professionals who care for children at the most important time of their lives. We can’t deliver child care without them and will need about 10,000 ECEs to join the profession over the next 10 years. The PNP program will help us address the ECE staff shortage throughout B.C. by helping us recruit more ECEs. We are also raising wages, expanding education and training, and offering bursaries for people who want to enter this rewarding and in-demand career."

Excerpt: "A Pre-Kindergarten pilot program will launch by September of this year that will create additional regulated child care spaces. At full implementation, the province-wide Pre-Kindergarten program will create approximately 3,100 regulated spaces for four-year olds by 2025-26, which will open up existing child care spaces for younger children."

Excerpt: "Main estimates for the Government of Yukon 2022–23 Budget. This document was prepared by the Department of Finance under the direction of Management Board for the 1st Session of the 35th Legislature, Yukon Legislative Assembly. March 2022, Whitehorse, Yukon."

Excerpt: "We propose to spend $211 million directly on education-related programs in next year’s budget including $7.3 million in new funds. We cannot educate our children for their futures without teachers. This budget includes $4.7 million for increased teachers’ salary and benefits. We are also allocating funding for training for teachers to teach multi-grade classes and for enhanced supports for principals in small schools. Furthermore, we have committed $1.8 million for inclusive schooling and education for children with complex needs and for modernizing the K to 12 Curriculum."

Excerpt: "Budget 2022 brings B.C. closer than ever to government’s planned $10-a-day child care; Through a new agreement with the federal government, fees for full-day infant and toddler care will be reduced by 50% to an average of approximately $20 a day by the end of 2022; Budget 2022 builds on that investment by cutting average fees for preschool and before- and after-school care to less than $20 a day for the 2023-24 school year."

Excerpt: "Early Learning Employment Investments: $655,300. Increased funding to the ECDA will aim to increase the employability of individuals within the licensed early learning and childcare system. The funding will support up to 100 participants in the development of skills and workforce knowledge while gaining work experience specific to the early learning and child care workforce."

Excerpt: "Following through on child care: Budget 2022 provides $666 million in operating expense funding in 2022-23 for a total of over $2.6 billion dollars by 2024-25 in support of the child care agreement with the federal government; Since the program was announced, Alberta parents are already experiencing lower costs, with the price of child care targeted to average $10 per day by 2026; To ensure families can choose the child care that works best for them, 42,500 new licensed child care spaces will be added over the next five years; The Alberta Child and Family Benefit also provides up to $5,120 annually to lower income families."

Excerpt: "As part of the close to $98 million investment, $15.5 million in funding for this year prioritizes ongoing commitments made under previous agreements, including supporting: affordable child care by providing operating grant funding for over 1,800 spaces; diversity and inclusion through increased funding for Francophone and Indigenous programming and expanded supports for children with additional needs; and rural and northern communities to build sector capacity.

Under this extended agreement, Manitoba will also introduce two new initiatives to support the ELCC sector in the coming months. This includes: a Renovation Expansion Grant to provide funding for non-profit facilities to expand their existing spaces to meet community needs; and increased opportunities for child-care assistant certification training by improving access to the required 40-hours course through subsidized costs and expanded programming."