SURREY,
BC, March 28, 2024 /CNW/ - Everyone deserves
to succeed. But today, for too many Canadians, your hard work isn't
paying off like it did for previous generations. Your paycheque
doesn't go as far as costs go up, and saving enough to go after
your dreams seems harder and harder. It doesn't have to be this
way. Everyone deserves a fair shot at success.
Part of what fairness looks like is making sure that we support
each other at every stage of life, and invest in each other. That
starts from childhood. Every child deserves the best start in life,
but for too long, child care costs were as much as a 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.
That's why we introduced $10-a-day
child care across Canada – with
all provinces and territories already offering, or on track to
offer, $10-a-day child care, and with
record levels of women participating in the workforce.
But not enough families have access to affordable child care
spaces – so we're building more.
The Prime Minister, Justin
Trudeau, today announced measures from the upcoming
Budget 2024 to build more affordable child care spaces –
saving more families thousands of dollars and helping more parents
return to their careers.
These measures include:
- Launching a new Child Care Expansion Loan
Program. With $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, student loan forgiveness will increase the longer an
educator works in a rural or remote area, attracting and retaining
the talent, similar to the programs 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.
While in Surrey, British
Columbia, the Prime Minister also announced that the
Government of Canada is providing
British Columbia with $69.9 million to create new child care
spaces and support inclusive child care services across the
province. This investment, through the Early Learning and Child
Care Infrastructure Fund, means more spaces – and more affordable
spaces – for families in British
Columbia.
Additionally, British Columbia
announced that over 930 child care spaces are moving into the
province's $10 a Day ChildCareBC
program this spring, which will save families an average of
$920 a month per child. These spaces
mean the Province has met – and exceeded – its target of bringing
the number of $10 a Day ChildCareBC
spaces to 15,000 by this spring.
In just three years, we've made incredible progress in building
the Canada-wide early learning and
child care system. Across the country, over 750,000 kids are
already benefiting from affordable, high-quality child care, with
some families saving up to $14,000
per child, per year. Alongside provinces and territories, we have
also announced over 100,000 new spaces, well on our way to reaching
our goal of creating 250,000 new spaces by March 2026.
This is just one of the things that we are going to be doing in
this budget to support families and build an economy that is fair
for every generation. Alongside affordable child care, we're
investing in good health care, dental care, protecting pensions,
and increasing access to medications, to make sure every generation
can be safe and healthy to get ahead. This will build on the
already historic investments we have made to build a strong social
safety net and strengthen the middle class. We're doing this not
just because it's good social policy, but because it's good
economic policy. When workers are well supported, our businesses do
well, our economy does well, and that means everyone, in every
generation, benefits.
Quotes
"Affordable child care gives moms and dads the opportunity to
build their careers, helps families save money, and gives kids the
best start to life. That's why in Budget 2024, we're taking
action to build more child care spaces, hire more early childhood
educators, give them more training, and work with provinces like
British Columbia to make sure
families get the comfort and security they deserve. Fairness is
making sure we support each other and build a better future –
that's what affordable child care is all about."
— The Rt. Hon. Justin
Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
"Young families who don't yet have access to affordable child
care spaces are paying nearly a second rent or mortgage payment for
unregulated child care. This is unfair to today's generation of
parents, including Millennial parents, who need and deserve the
relief of $10-a-day spaces. With
today's new action to build more affordable spaces and attract and
train more early childhood educators, we are helping more families
across Canada access affordable
child care and save thousands of dollars every year."
— The Hon. Chrystia
Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
"In just three years, we have made incredible progress in making
our Canada-wide early learning and
child care system a reality for families. More parents who never
thought it was possible can now afford high-quality early learning
and child care. As we create more spaces, more parents are entering
or re-entering the workforce, supporting a stronger economy. With
today's announcement we are ensuring that every family who wants a
high-quality, affordable child care spot, has one."
— The Hon. Jenna Sudds, Minister of Families, Children and
Social Development
Quick Facts
- The Government of Canada's
Budget 2024 will be tabled in the House of Commons by the
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.
- Yesterday, the Prime Minister announced Budget 2024 would
restore generational fairness for renters, particularly Millennials
and Gen Z, by taking new action to protect renters' rights and
unlock pathways for them to become homeowners.
- As part of Budget 2021, the Government of Canada made a transformative investment of
more than $27 billion over five years to build a Canada-wide early learning and child care
system with provinces and territories. Combined with other
investments, including in Indigenous early learning and child care,
up to $30 billion over five years is being provided in support
of early learning and child care.
- Investments in child care benefit all Canadians. Studies show
that for every dollar invested in early childhood education, the
broader economy receives between $1.50 and $2.80 in
return.
- In 2023, Canada saw a record
79.7 per cent labour force participation rate for core-aged mothers
of children under age six.
- To date, over half of the provinces and territories are
delivering regulated child care for an average of $10-a-day or less, including Quebec and the Yukon, which achieved this prior to the
Canada-wide system. In all other
provinces and territories, fees for regulated child care have been
reduced by at least 50 per cent on average. Provinces and
territories are working toward lowering fees for regulated child
care to $10-a-day on average by
March 2026.
- Canada-wide early learning and
child care is saving families, per child, up to $13,700 a year in Alberta, $8,500
in Ontario, $6,900 in Saskatchewan, $6,600 in British
Columbia, $6,300 in
Newfoundland and Labrador, $6,000
in Nova Scotia, $4,170 in Prince Edward
Island, $3,600 in New Brunswick, $2,610 in Manitoba, $7,300
in the Yukon, $9,120 in the Northwest
Territories (effective April 1,
2024), and $14,300 in
Nunavut.
- As part of the Canada-wide
early learning and child care system, the Government of
Canada is working with provinces
and territories to create 250,000 new child care spaces across the
country by March 2026 to increase
access to affordable child care options for families, no matter
where they live.
- To support this goal, the federal government
previously announced the Early Learning and Child Care
Infrastructure Fund. The Fund provides an additional
$625 million to provinces and territories to support
infrastructure projects for not-for-profit child care spaces in
underserved communities, such as rural and remote regions,
high-cost and low-income urban neighbourhoods, and communities that
face barriers to access, including racialized groups, Indigenous
Peoples, official language minority communities, newcomers, as well
as parents, caregivers, and children with disabilities.
- To give every child the best start in life, the federal
government is also:
- Giving families more money through the Canada Child
Benefit to help with the costs of raising their children and make a
real difference in the lives of children in Canada. The Canada Child Benefit, which can
provide up to $7,437 per child per
year, is indexed annually to keep up with the cost of living and
has helped lift half a million children out of poverty since its
launch in 2016.
- Improving access to dental health care for children under the
age of 12 through the Canada Dental Benefit, and soon for children
under 18 with the Canadian Dental Care Plan, because no one should
have to choose between taking care of their kids' teeth and putting
food on the table.
This document is also available at https://pm.gc.ca
SOURCE Prime Minister's Office