The Governments of Canada and Manitoba announce agreement that will provide nearly $98 million in funding to benefit more families, educators and the child care sector

WINNIPEG, MB, Feb. 22, 2022  /CNW/ - The Government of Canada and the Government of Manitoba have agreed to extend the Canada–Manitoba Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. Through the extended agreement, the Government of Canada is providing nearly $98 million in funding over four years to strengthen Manitoba's regulated child care services and offer support for the recruitment and retention of the child care workforce. 

Today, the Honourable Karina Gould, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, virtually joined Wayne Ewasko, Manitoba's Minister of Education and Early Childhood Learning, to announce this agreement. Because of this agreement, Manitoba will continue to invest federal funding to improve access to high-quality, affordable, flexible, and inclusive early learning and child care.

As part of that investment, the Government of Canada is providing a one-time early childhood workforce investment of nearly $19.2 million in 2021-2022. Early childhood educators (ECEs) are at the heart of a high-quality early learning and child care system and this funding will help ensure Manitoba ECEs are well supported and able to further their professional goals. The funding will be used to support the retention of qualified and experienced workers, including increasing wages and financial security for staff, as well as investments to help grow the workforce.

This agreement is separate and distinct from Canada–Manitoba Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, signed in August 2021, which is providing Manitoba with more than $1.2 billion in federal funding over five years. This will support an average fee of $10 a day for regulated child care spaces in the province by March 2023, significantly reducing the cost of child care for families across the province. 

The Canada-wide early learning and child care system is now becoming a reality across the country. The Government of Canada will continue to work with provinces, territories, and Indigenous partners to make life easier and more affordable for families, grow the middle class, create jobs, help parents—especially mothers—return to the workforce, and offer each child in Canada the best possible start in life.

Quotes

"Today's agreement builds on the great work already underway to improve early learning and child care in Manitoba. It also means more support for early childhood educators, who are at the heart of the Canada-wide system we are building with provinces and territories. I look forward to continuing to work with the province to support families, create more child care spaces, and grow the early childhood workforce." 
– The Honourable Karina Gould, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development

"When we announced fee reductions for parents three weeks ago, we promised that additional investments would be coming to support the early childhood workforce, and today, we deliver on that promise. Our first investments will be to enhance wages for many workers who make less than the provincial average, as well as provide additional benefits to current staff, which is expected to help us retain more employees to support the youngest Manitobans."
– Wayne Ewasko, Manitoba's Minister of Education and Early Childhood Learning

Quick Facts

• The extension agreement with Manitoba is a continuation of the bilateral agreement signed with the province in 2017. Thanks to past investments provided under this agreement, over 700 child care spaces were created in Manitoba. By the end of March 2026, Manitoba expects to create 23,000 new full‑time regulated early learning and child care spaces for children age six and under.
  
  
• To date, the Government of Canada has reached Canada-Wide early learning and child care agreements with the governments of British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Yukon, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, New Brunswick, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. The governments of Canada and Quebec also reached an asymmetric agreement to strengthen the early learning and child care system in the province.
  
  
• On February 3, Manitoba joined Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, Alberta, and Nova Scotia, in announcing a reduction of child care fees to work towards the commitment to reduce fees for parents with children in regulated child care spaces by 50 per cent on average by the end of 2022. The Governments of Quebec and Yukon have already achieved an average cost of $10-a-day or lower for regulated child care.
  
  
• As part of Budget 2021, the Government of Canada made a transformative investment of over $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 will be provided in support of early learning and child care.

Associated Links

Budget 2021: A Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Plan 
Multilateral Early Learning and Child Care Framework

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SOURCE Employment and Social Development Canada

For media enquiries, please contact: Mohammad Hussain, Press Secretary, Office of the Honourable Karina Gould, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, [email protected]; Media Relations Office, Employment and Social Development Canada, 819-994-5559, [email protected]