News & Stories: Policy Monitor

Excerpt: "The governments of Canada and Manitoba are allocating up to $70 million in capital funding for new child-care facilities, creating more than 1,200 new, regulated non-profit child-care spaces across the province with a focus on rural and First Nations communities, Premier Heather Stefanson, Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Wayne Ewasko and federal parliamentary secretary Ya’ara Saks, on behalf of federal Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Karina Gould, announced today."

Excerpt: "Transformational investments in child care, education and advanced education are critical to preparing young Manitobans for their future. To address the need for affordable and accessible high-quality early childhood education, especially in rural communities, we are investing up to $70 million to fund up to 17 new facilities to create more than 1,200 new spaces. To strengthen the sector and encourage more individuals to pursue a career in early childhood education, an increase to operating grants is planned for early in the new year to support increased wages. As the workforce grows, more investments will be made to add more spaces."

Excerpt: "As part of the Manitoba government’s ongoing commitment to provide affordable and accessible child-care services for Manitoba families, the province is investing an additional $600,000 in the expansion of the child-care centre at the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) of Brandon’s Y Downtown Early Learning Centre, Premier Heather Stefanson and Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Wayne Ewasko announced here today. “Our government continues to be a national leader in providing affordable child-care services, which is critical to ensuring Manitobans can participate in the workforce, support their family and play an active role in the growth of our communities and economy,” said Stefanson. “This expansion project will double the number of spaces at the Y Downtown and ensure families in the Brandon area have access to high-quality child care in their community.”"

Excerpt: "Manitoba families in rural and First Nations communities will be better able to access affordable child care following a $94-million total investment from the governments of Canada and Manitoba in the two phases of the ready-to-move child-care project to create a total of 1,670 new child-care spaces, federal Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Karina Gould and Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Wayne Ewasko announced today. “The Government of Canada is proud to announce these additional child-care spaces for rural and First Nations communities,” said Gould. “The ready-to-move pilot project is another example how the Canada-wide system leverages innovation and collaboration between federal, provincial, municipal, and First Nations communities to ensure that every family, no matter where they live, has access to high-quality and affordable child care.”"

Excerpt: "The governments of Canada and Manitoba are providing $45.9 million in one-time funding under the Canada-Manitoba Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child-Care Agreement to support the implementation of quality enhancement grants to fund programming for children under the age of seven. The Manitoba government is contributing an additional $14 million to ensure equitable support is available for school-aged programming within the sector that serves children ages seven to 12. “Our government is committed to making quality child-care more accessible for Manitoba families,” said Ewasko. “These grants will help early learning and child-care providers make immediate investments into facilities and staff to support high-quality learning for children across the province and a stronger, more responsive early learning and child-care system for Manitoba families.”"

Excerpt: "As part of the Manitoba government’s ongoing efforts to be a national leader in affordable and accessible child care, Premier Heather Stefanson and Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Wayne Ewasko announced today Manitoba has reached a historic milestone in which Manitoba families will pay a maximum of $10 a day for children 12 years and under for regular hours of care, beginning April 2."

Excerpt: "Manitoba is working towards expanding and strengthening the early learning and child-care system throughout the province. This includes significant investments in workforce retention and recruitment and increasing the number of funded licensed spaces. The government is also reducing parent fees to make early learning and child care more affordable and accessible for all Manitobans. Budget 2023 makes a number of investments in early learning and child care, including: investing $76.1-million to reduce regulated parent; fees to $10 per day, well in advance of the target; date of Mar. 31, 2026; and launching a multi-year training expansion plan for the early learning and child-care workforce, including early childhood educators and child-care assistants, in partnership with post-secondary institutions."

Excerpt: "The Manitoba government is increasing starting wages under Manitoba’s Early Learning and Child Care Wage Grid for the early childhood workforce in funded child-care facilities by $56.1 million effective July 1, federal Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Karina Gould and Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Wayne Ewasko announced today. “By investing in early learning and child care, we’re investing in the future of our country,” said Gould. “This wage enhancement will help attract and retain the best early childhood educators and child-care assistants, who are the cornerstone of the Canada-wide early learning and child-care system." Under the Canada-Manitoba Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement 2021-2026, facilities will receive $52.8 million, through their existing operating grants that support early learning and child-care sector staff wages who care for children under the age of seven."

Excerpt: "The Manitoba government is investing more than $1.6 million to expand access to early years evaluations and digital assessment tools in English and French for educators and clinicians across the province, to support early identification of learning needs, Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Wayne Ewasko announced today. “Our government knows how important it is for educators and clinicians to be able to identify learning needs early on, especially to support literacy instruction and intervention,” said Ewasko. “These new resources will provide teachers and clinicians with equitable access to early identification tools, specialized assessments and interventions to identify student learning needs, and develop supports and programming to improve outcomes.”"

Excerpt: "The governments of Canada and Manitoba are investing more than $24 million to develop and expand early childhood educator (ECE) and child-care assistant (CCA) training programs at Manitoba’s post-secondary institutions over the next three years. “Earlier this year, our government invited Manitoba’s publicly-funded post-secondary institutions to submit proposals to develop or expand education and training programs for the early learning and child-care sector,” said Guillemard. “I’m pleased that five post-secondary institutions have been approved to receive funding, with a number of them updating their program delivery to provide more flexible, accelerated training options that meet the standards for certification.” Five public post-secondary institutions will receive funding to expand training for child-care professionals following an invitation from the province to submit expressions of interest in March 2023. This funding will add an estimated 998 seats in the province over a three-year period and will support approximately 2,000 total new student admissions."

Except: "The Manitoba government has established a commission to look at ways to redesign Manitoba’s early learning and child-care system to guide future plans including developing options to create universally accessible early learning and child care for all Manitoba families who need it, Family Services Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross said today."

Excerpt: "“Our government has been building one of the best early learning and child-care systems in Canada. Today, I am happy to announce our government is continuing to build on that system by supporting a child-care expansion of up to 6,000 sq. ft. at Harrow School,” said Bjornson. “Early childhood education is critical for laying the foundation for Manitoba’s children to get a good start in life and child care gives parents the option to go back to work or return to school.”"