News & Stories: Policy Monitor

Excerpt: "The 10 new Edmonton school projects include eight new schools and two replacement schools. Edmonton Public Schools is approved for four new schools. Edmonton Catholic Schools and Conseil scolaire Centre-Nord are each approved for two new schools and one replacement school. Together, these projects will create or renovate more than 8,400 student spaces in Edmonton. With a total of 40 new projects funded in Budget 2026, there are now 161 active school projects underway across the province."

Excerpt: "Key strategic priorities of our government are: Ensuring that Islanders have access to reliable energy, advancing policies and projects that keep energy costs manageable for households and businesses, and strengthening the reliability and resilience of our grid; Ensuring responsible and transparent land ownership and land management, improving oversight and enforcement, and modernizing land‑use planning frameworks to support appropriate development while protecting agricultural land and sensitive ecosystems; Expanding access to primary care, improving wait times, and strengthening our recruitment and retention of our valued healthcare workers; Supporting Island residents and businesses in addressing affordability pressures, including food security, childcare, and housing; Approaching all decisions with aggressive financial stewardship and transparency."

Excerpt: "Through this next school bundle, Alberta’s government is moving forward with a group of elementary and junior high schools that will create space for more than 5,300 students in Edmonton, Calgary, Cochrane and Airdrie. These new schools will help ease pressure in classrooms and support growing communities."

Excerpt: "The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) and the Government of Canada announced today the creation of 355 net new child care spaces as of September 30, 2025. As part of the Canada-Northwest Territories Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement – 2021 to 2026, the territory committed to creating 300 spaces for children ages 0-5 years. These spaces support families and job creation in Northwest Territories’ (NWT) communities while allowing parents to return to work or school knowing their children are cared for in safe, licensed environments."

Excerpt: "Today, the Honourable Mandy Gull-Masty, Minister of Indigenous Services, announced that the federal government is committing $1.55 billion to renew Jordan’s Principle until March 31, 2027. This investment responds to sustained demand over the past decade and will protect uninterrupted access to essential supports for children."

Excerpt: "To meet the needs of Alberta’s growing communities, Budget 2026 provides $722 million in new funding to support enrolment growth, teacher compensation, improved classroom conditions, and the construction and modernization of school infrastructure; $1.8 billion budgeted in 2026-27 to support students with specialized learning needs, an increase of $86.5 million from 2025-26; Funding of $355 million in 2026-27 and $1.4 billion over 2026-27 to 2028-29 to hire 1,500 more education assistants and 3,000 more teachers over the next 3 years to help address class size and complexity; $3.3 billion to support new and ongoing school projects."

Excerpt: " Revenue from Ordinary Recoveries is forecast to be $96.5 million higher than Budget Estimates. This is primarily due to an increase of $101.4 million in PYAs, $33.6 million from Emergency Management primarily due to federal Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA) program, and $12.6 million from Cyber Security and Digital Solutions mainly due to One Person One Record and hardware and software purchases on behalf of Nova Scotia Health. These increases are partially offset by decreases of $37.9 million from Municipal Affairs, primarily due to the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program due to shifts in cashflows, and $27.2 million in Education and Early Childhood Development mainly associated with the Canada Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreements, due to construction delays."

Excerpt: "Supporting child care and K-12 education: Budget 2026 includes $634 million in new funding for teachers, student services, and to support inclusive learning as the number of inclusive learning students enrolled is on the rise; A $167-million investment in the Classroom Enhancement Fund will result in more teachers for everyone, as well as special education teachers and teacher psychologists and counsellors; Another $3.9 billion in capital funding is allocated for seismic replacements and upgrades as well as projects to address enrolment growth in B.C.’s fastest-growing communities; Budget 2026 provides a $330-million lift to ChildCareBC to stabilize the programs and services that families rely on as government works to modernize B.C.’s child care system. This stabilization is critical as provinces and territories continue negotiations with the federal government to drive flexibility and resilience across the system. This funding will maintain lower fees, and the spaces and support for operators and educators achieved over the past eight years."

Excerpt: "Starting July 2027, a new income-tested B.C. Children and Youth Disability Supplement will also become available to families with any child under age 18 who is eligible for the federal Disability Tax Credit. The supplement will provide up to $6,000 per year (based on the level of family net income), which families can use to pay for therapies, supports and services they believe are most helpful. The new supplement is designed to support families with middle and low incomes."

Excerpt: "The Manitoba government is increasing its investment in schools by $79.8 million for the 2026-27 school year, Education and Early Childhood Minister Tracy Schmidt announced today. “Our government is committed to making sure every Manitoba family can count on strong, stable public schools, year after year. We are meeting the needs of students and communities by building new schools and feeding kids with our universal school food program,” said Schmidt. “This is good news for teachers, school divisions and families while building a brighter future for Manitoba’s students.” The Manitoba government is allocating $11.4 million in public school funding to support divisions most affected by teacher salary harmonization. Salary harmonization will be implemented in the 2026-27 school year. Salary harmonization standardizes teacher pay scales across school divisions to help minimize disparities."

Excerpt: "The reports summarize the almost 11,000 responses received by the anglophone sector and more than 3,000 responses received by the francophone sector. “We are committed to creating a collective vision for education, along with our partners in the early learning and child-care sector, teachers and other education professionals, stakeholders, experts and parents,” said Johnson. “These new education plans will play a significant role in the direction of New Brunswick education for years to come.”"

Excerpt: "The provincial government signed a new five-year deal in November to keep the $10-a-day program going. Many provinces signed agreements months earlier, but Saskatchewan’s Education Minister said the province was holding out to get a better deal. The new deal includes a base funding increase to help with inflationary costs and an expansion to the age limit so kids who turn six can stay in the program until they start school. Werner said the delay may have contributed to a lack of new spaces opening in the last while, because providers wouldn’t want to go through all the work of planning and funding if the program was going away. “All of that gets put on hold – we don’t want to go into a bunch of debt and then not know if the funding is even going to be in place,” she explained."