91Ö±²¥

Presented by Kerry McCuaig, Atkinson Centre Fellow In Early Childhood Policy; and Jane Bertrand, Adjunct Faculty OISE, and Program Director, Margaret and Wallace McCain Family Foundation, November 2015, to the Office of the Early Years, Victoria, British Columbia.

Excerpt: "We want to make sure every family can find high-quality, affordable child care. We are announcing an ambitious goal: we will create a universally accessible child care system with 12,000 additional spaces for families, and expand Manitobaʼs workforce of early childhood educators with our partners, such as Red River College and Université de Saint-Boniface. We will be expanding child care centres into new housing developments as well as schools, colleges and universities. Every family who needs child care should have access to an affordable space."

Excerpt: "This study was commissioned by the New Brunswick Department of Education and Early Childhood Development to support the work of its Child Care Taskforce. The authors were asked to develop a cost benefit analysis of the potential social and economic impacts of public spending on child care in the province. They were also asked to provide recommendations on child care service delivery based on best practices in other Canadian jurisdictions."

Excerpt: "Ontario is investing $498 million in new and renovated schools as well as new child care spaces to provide students with better places to learn while also giving families more options for quality licensed child care that is close to home."

Excerpt: "A vision to deliver the highest possible quality of education to our students will engage Islanders in all aspects of learning to ensure students, parents, teachers, principals and government are working together on achieving the same goal, excellence in learning."

Excerpt: "The Manitoba government continues to invest in student success by providing $3 million in new funding to hire more teachers and keep kindergarten to Grade 3 classes smaller"

Excerpt: "For child care centres, the following enhancements are being implemented: The Operating Grant Program will allow for increased flexibility by providing up to an additional 15 per cent above current grant amounts for child care centres that can demonstrate the financial need; Existing child care centres where kitchen facilities are unavailable for the provision of meals and snacks will now be eligible to apply for the Operating Grant Program at a reduced grant amount; and; Equipment grant funding will be continued and increased by 30 per cent for all child care centres in the province."

Excerpt: "Proposals were put before this House by the previous government to cut funding to Alberta’s elementary, secondary and post-secondary school systems – even though education is the single most important investment our province can make in the welfare of our children, and the success of our future economy. In this budget, we confirm we are restoring funding to the education and advanced education budgets that were cut by the former government."

Excerpt: "Over the coming year, Ontario will begin construction on 766 more licensed child care spaces in local schools across the province to improve access to safe, high quality child care."

The new Early Learning and Child Care Directory is a searchable online database and interactive map that helps parents identify regulated child care centres, family child care as well as family resource centres in their area. Regulated child care service providers may also publicly post any vacancies in their service using the directory's Child Care Availability page.

Excerpt: "We are shaped by the quality of our childhood. Parents understand this intuitively, and try to give their children the best possible experiences. We act on this belief as a society, too, investing in public education, health care, community infrastructure and other supports to ensure that children get the best start in life."

Excerpt: "Municipal child care is not care like any other. It addresses the critical shortage of care for infants, it responds to children with exceptional needs and to families in crisis. It fills a gap that centres in the community and home care do not have the capacity to provide. In closing the Region’s centres you will be leaving many of these families with no place to go."