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News & Stories: Policy Monitor

September 23, 2020

Excerpt: "It has been nearly 50 years since the Royal Commission on the Status of Women outlined the necessity of child care services for women’s social and economic equality. We have long understood that Canada cannot succeed if half of the population is held back. Canadians need more accessible, affordable, inclusive, and high quality childcare. Recognizing the urgency of this challenge, the Government will make a significant, long-term, sustained investment to create a Canada-wide early learning and childcare system. The Government will build on previous investments, learn from the model that already exists in Quebec, and work with all provinces and territories to ensure that high-quality care is accessible to all. There is broad consensus from all parts of society, including business and labour leaders, that the time is now. The Government also remains committed to subsidizing before- and after-school program costs. With the way that this pandemic has affected parents and families, flexible care options for primary school children are more important than ever."
September 25, 2020

Excerpt: "The Government of Canada will build on previous investments that have created close to 40,000 new child care spaces, and work with all provinces and territories, as well as with First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation governments, to ensure that high-quality care is accessible to all."
November 30, 2020

Excerpt: "The Government of Canada made a transformative investment of over $27 billion over 5 years as part of Budget 2021 to build a Canada-wide early learning and child care system with provinces and territories. Combined with other investments including Indigenous early learning and child care, up to $30 billion over 5 years will be provided in support of early learning and child care. These investments will support early learning and child care programs consistent with the Multilateral Early Learning and Child Care Framework."
November 30, 2020

Excerpt: "On the eve of this anniversary, the federal government is committed to historic investments that will make this promise a reality. Budget 2021 will outline a plan to provide affordable, accessible and high-quality child care from ocean, to ocean to ocean. This is a feminist plan, to be sure. It also makes sound business sense and is supported by many of Canada’s corporate leaders, who have witnessed the economic toll this crisis has taken on women, families and children – and therefore on Canada’s bottom line."
December 7, 2020

Excerpt: "“Canada is deeply committed to advancing gender equality and continuing to make progress on the recommendations laid out in the report. To help more women enter and remain in the workforce, the government is making historic investments in women’s and equality-seeking organizations, training opportunities, recruitment programs, child care, and parental leave. As promised in the Speech from the Throne, we are also working to create a Canada-wide early learning and child care system. In the Fall Economic Statement, we announced our proposed plan to bring partners together toward a common vision, including through the creation of a Federal Secretariat on Early Learning and Child Care. We will also work with provinces and territories to support early childhood educators. For instance, we will engage them on future sustained investments in support of an Early Childhood Educator Workforce Strategy. Finally, in Budget 2021, we will lay out a plan to provide affordable, accessible, inclusive, and high-quality child care from coast to coast to coast."
February 9, 2021

Excerpt: "The Ministers recognized the efforts of provinces and territories to deliver high quality child care to families across Canada through well-established child care systems, particularly during the pandemic. Ministers agreed to initiate discussion for renewed bilateral funding agreements in accordance with the Multilateral Early Learning and Child Care Framework, noting some common interests, challenges and perspectives on early learning and child care, including support for workforce participation."
April 19, 2021

Excerpt: "There is agreement, across the political spectrum, that early learning and child care is the national economic policy we need now.

This is social infrastructure that will drive jobs and growth. This is feminist economic policy. This is smart economic policy. That is why this budget commits up to $30 billion over five years, reaching $8.3 billion every year, permanently, to build a high-quality, affordable and accessible early learning and child care system across Canada.

This is not an effort that will deliver instant gratification. We are building something that, of necessity, must be constructed collaboratively, and for the long-term.

But I have confidence in us. I have confidence that we are a country that believes in investing in our future; in our children; and in our young parents. Here is our goal : Five years from now, parents across the country should have access to high quality early learning and child care, for an average of $10 a day.

I make this promise to Canadians today, speaking as your Finance Minister and as a working mother: We will get it done.

In making this historic commitment, I want to thank the visionary leaders of Quebec, particularly Quebec's feminists, who have shown the rest of Canada the way forward.

This plan will, of course, also provide additional resources to Quebec, which might well use them to further support an early learning and child care system that is already the envy of the rest of Canada, and indeed, much of the world."
May 12, 2021

Excerpt: "The Honourable Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of National Revenue and the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development announced today that the CCB young child supplement (CCBYCS) will take effect later this month. The Government of Canada recognizes that young families in particular have been impacted by the unpredictable expenses of the COVID-19 pandemic. This money will help pay for things such as short-term child care arrangements, healthy food, clothes, and activities they can do at home as a family. Families could receive up to $1,200 in support per child under the age of six in 2021. This will benefit about 1.6 million Canadian families and about 2.1 million children under the age of six. In 2021, families that are entitled to receive the CCB with a net income of $120,000 or less, will receive $300 per payment for each child under the age of six."
July 30, 2021

Excerpt: "The Canada Country Background Report provides descriptions of Canadian policies in place at all levels of government that support process quality in ECEC. Information presented in the report is representative of policy contexts and efforts as of early 2021. Initial data collection occurred through the 2019 OECD policy review questionnaire, with updates and content development occurring throughout 2020 and early 2021. Specific attention is given to the policy context for ECEC, along with descriptions of early learning curriculum frameworks, pedagogical practices, and policies, programs, and initiatives to support workforce development."
November 23, 2021

Excerpt: "The Government will also continue building the first-ever Canada-wide early learning and child care system. By the end of 2022, average fees for regulated child care will be cut in half in most of the provinces and territories. And in some places, this will even happen as early as the start of the year. Families will save thousands of dollars. Four jurisdictions have not yet reached agreements on child care. Two are territories with unique infrastructure challenges, and the Government will keep working together to ensure we meet the needs of the North. The Government will continue working with the remaining two provinces to finalize agreements that will deliver $10-a-day child care for families who so badly need it."
December 3, 2021

Excerpt: "Up to $25 million over two years will be allocated through this call for proposals to projects that will help to improve the accessibility and safety of regulated and/or licensed early learning and child care centres across the country. This funding could benefit approximately 350 child care centres, and support accessible infrastructure improvements such as ramps, doors, washrooms, elevators, lifts, and play structures. Accessible information and communication technology projects are also eligible for funding support."
December 16, 2021

Excerpt: "To realize these objectives, I ask that you achieve results for Canadians by delivering the following commitments. Supported by the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, continue advancing the creation and sustainability of a Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care system, including: Concluding negotiations with remaining provinces and territories and implementing agreements: Reducing fees for regulated child care by 50 per cent on average by the end of 2022 everywhere outside of Quebec, reducing regulated child care fees to $10 a day on average by the end of fiscal year 2025-2026 everywhere outside of Quebec, and building 250,000 new high-quality child care spaces and hiring 40,000 more early childhood educators by the end of fiscal year 2025-2026; Introducing federal child care legislation to strengthen and protect a high-quality Canada-wide child care system; Establishing a National Advisory Council on Early Learning and Child Care; Continuing to advance work with provinces and territories to reduce fees for families for before and after school care; and Ensuring the Federal Secretariat on Early Learning and Child Care is fully resourced and operational by early 2023."