°ϸ̳

News & Stories: Policy Monitor

January 31, 2018

Excerpt: "In addition to the multi-year bilateral funding, your government is also investing $28 million to support wage increases for early childhood educators. This funding will be rolled out over four years beginning in 2019–2020 and raise wages from $16 an hour to $19 an hour for trained early childhood educators by 2022–2023."
November 30, 2018

Excerpt: "The provincial government has signed a three-year bilat-eral agreement under the Early Learning and Child Care federal framework The provincial and federal funding will result in the creation of NB Early Learning Centres through which families will access affordable quality child care Grants to help pay for the cost of providing vquality child care will be provided through EECD directly to the NB Early Learning Centres There was a phased-in approach for the designation initiative, Phase 1 began in Q4 2017-2018 with 55 facilities being initially targeted, and subsequently approved, for designation."
April 11, 2019

Excerpt: "The provincial government has announced a 75 cent per hour wage increase for early childhood educators who have completed a two-year college diploma or a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education or a related field."
September 19, 2020

Excerpt: "Today, the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, announced $14 million in federal support for New Brunswick’s child care sector to help ensure that safe and sufficient child care spaces are available to support parents’ gradual return to work."
November 4, 2020

Excerpt: "The agreement allocates nearly $10 million in 2020–21 for early learning and child care investments in New Brunswick. Specifically, New Brunswick will continue to collaborate with the childcare sector and maintain the New Brunswick Early Learning Centres designation to ensure all families and children in the province have access to high-quality, affordable child care in the official language of their choice by 2030."
November 16, 2020

Excerpt: "Funding from the Safe Restart Agreement will be provided through a monthly grant to licensed early learning and child-care facilities that meet the following terms and conditions: using the funding to offset the cost associated with the impact of COVID-19; ensuring hours of operation meet the needs of parents to support workforce participation; ensuring licensed spaces are made available based on demand; and updating space availability monthly on the department’s Parent Portal."
March 16, 2021

Excerpt: "World-class education: $1.7 million to support the development and delivery of distance learning opportunities; $1.2 million to maintain the additional technicians put in place to provide technical support to teachers and students; $1 million to continue support of the Laptop Subsidy Program, helping an estimated 2,000 students access technology for the upcoming year; A wage increase of 75 cents per hour for qualified early childhood educators."
August 13, 2021

Excerpt: "Under the 2021–2022 to 2024–2025 Canada–New Brunswick Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, New Brunswick will continue to collaborate with the childcare sector and maintain the New Brunswick Early Learning facility designation to ensure all families and children in the province have access to high-quality, affordable child care in the official language of their choice. The agreement focuses on strengthening the early childhood workforce, particularly around inclusive practices through training and mentorship, while addressing recruitment and retention challenges. Actions include implementing a marketing campaign to promote the profession and establishing a process for the recognition of early childhood education credentials obtained outside of Canada."
September 21, 2021

Excerpt: "There is a strong desire for professional recognition to advance their profession. To that end, educators overwhelmingly reaffirmed the importance of a robust profession by having a regulated professional association to promote their profession, to be the voice with government and to regulate the standards of practice. Early Childhood Educators also recommended using the process of certification and pay equity to determine a wage scale."
December 13, 2021

Excerpt: "This agreement will fund critical services, and grow a strong and skilled workforce of early childhood educators, including through the creation of a wage grid and greater opportunities for professional development. The agreement will also support an early learning and child care system that is fully inclusive of children with disabilities and children needing enhanced or individual supports, and ensures all families have equitable access to high-quality, affordable early learning and child care."
March 23, 2022

Excerpt: "Updates to the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development’s Parent Portal will allow families to enrol their children in early learning and child-care facilities online, cutting down on paperwork for families and facility operators. “We have been working to expand the services offered through our Parent Portal to help support both families and operators,” said Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Dominic Cardy. “We are pleased to work with early learning and child-care facilities to launch online child enrolment, which we hope will save time for families and our dedicated early learning and child-care providers. This information will also help us in decisions to improve services, child-care subsidies, and programs for early learners.”"
March 31, 2022

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."