May 16, 2024 Victoria, British Columbia Employment and Social Development Canada
Every child deserves the best start in life. But for young families, including Millennial and Gen Z parents, the costs of child care can add up to a second rent or mortgage payment. This makes it harder to start and support a family, and as a result, parents-especially moms-often face impossible choices between their careers and child care fees.
Fairness for every generation means ensuring parents, especially moms, do not have to choose between a career and starting a family. The Government is taking action to make life cost less for young families and to build a Canada where every generation can get ahead.
Already, all provinces and territories are offering or are on track to offer $10-a-day regulated child care. This progress, made possible by nearly $40 billion in federal support since 2016, including the transformative investment of nearly $30 billion in Budget 2021, is making life more affordable for young families. Women's labour force participation is now at a record high of 85.7%, meaning more families are bringing home more income and contributing to Canada's economic growth, while saving thousands of dollars on child care every year.
But more families need access to affordable child care.
That's why, today in Victoria, the Honourable Terry Beech, Minister of Citizens' Services, highlighted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's announcement from March 28 of $69.9 million over four years, with $47.3 million through 2025-2026, to help build more inclusive child care spaces across British Columbia through the Government of Canada's $625 million Early Learning and Child Care Infrastructure Fund. This investment will help British Columbia reach the shared goal of building 30,000 new child care spaces by 2026.
Through this Fund, all provinces and territories will be able to make further investments in child care, so more families can save up to $14,300 on child care every year, per child.
These investments will aim to support families in rural and remote communities, as well as families in communities that face barriers to access, such as racialized groups, Indigenous Peoples, newcomers, official language minority communities, and children, parents and employees with disabilities. Funding may also be used to support infrastructure to provide care during non-standard hours.
The Minister also highlighted key measures included in Budget 2024 to build more child care spaces and infrastructure, support early childhood educators across the country, and help more families access affordable child care. These include:
- Launching a new Child Care Expansion Loan Program. With up to $1 billion in low-cost loans and $60 million in non-repayable grants, public and not-for-profit child care providers will be able to build new spaces and renovate their existing child care centres. This means more resources for child care providers and more affordable child care options for families.
- Offering student loan forgiveness for rural and remote early childhood educators. This will encourage educators to work in smaller communities and help families get the child care they need. With a $48 million investment over four years, Canada Student Loan forgiveness amounts will increase with the amount of time an educator works in a rural or remote area, attracting and retaining the talent, similar to the benefits we're offering rural doctors and nurses.
- Increasing training for early childhood educators. We're investing $10 million over two years to train more early childhood educators, building up the talent needed for the expansion of affordable, high-quality child care.
Across the country, over 750,000 kids are already benefiting from affordable, high-quality child care, with some families saving up to $14,300 per child, per year. Alongside provinces and territories, the Government of Canada has also announced over 100,000 new spaces, well on the way to reaching the goal of creating 250,000 new spaces by March 2026.
Investing in affordable child care is about helping more families save thousands of dollars on child care and ensuring that every child has the best start in life. The measures highlighted above complement what the Government of Canada is doing in Budget 2024 to build a fairer Canada for every generation. The Government is building more homes, strengthening public health care, making life cost less, and growing the economy in a way that is shared by all-to make sure every generation has a fair chance at building a good middle-class life.
