January 31, 2023 Edmonton, Alberta Employment and Social Development Canada
Child care is not just a social policy-it is an economic policy, too. Access to high-quality, affordable, flexible and inclusive child care will grow the economy, allow more women to enter the workforce and help give every child in Canada the best start in life. That's why, in Budget 2021, the Government of Canada made a transformative investment of nearly $30 billion to create a Canada-wide early learning and child care system with provincial, territorial and Indigenous partners.
Today, the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Karina Gould, and the Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance, Randy Boissonnault, joined Alberta's Minister of Child Care Services, Mickey Amery, to announce the new Cost Control Framework and For-Profit Expansion Plan for the province of Alberta as part of the Canada-Alberta Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. This means that more children will have access to affordable, high-quality spaces in the province, with up to 6,000 new spaces being created by March 31.
The Cost Control Framework and For-Profit Expansion Plan will guarantee the sound and reasonable use of public funds in Alberta's for-profit child care sector, ensuring that costs and earnings of child care businesses are reasonable and that surplus earnings are directed towards improving child care services in the province. The framework will build upon the province's existing successful approach to working with the private sector and will guide how federal funds can be used to support the development of an additional 22,500 new child care spaces among Alberta's for-profit child care providers over the remainder of the Agreement. In total, Alberta will create 68,700 new licensed child care spaces by the end of March 2026, which will greatly enhance the availability of affordable, high-quality child care spaces in the province.
As part of the Canada-wide early learning and child care system, the Government of Canada aims to create approximately 250,000 new child care spaces across the country by March 2026 to give families affordable child care options, no matter where they live. New licensed spaces will be created predominantly among not-for-profit, public, and family-based child care providers.
