Affordable Child Care, a Stronger Economy
Every child deserves the best start in life. But for young families, the costs of child care can add up to a second rent or mortgage payment. As a result, parents – especially moms – often face impossible choices between their careers and child care fees.
As a government, we introduced the first-of-its-kind, universal $10-a-day child care program, so that families can save thousands of dollars every year and access affordable child care. Because of our Early Learning and Child Care program, 900,000 children across Canada are getting affordable, high-quality child care, and families are saving up to $16,200 per child, per year.
We’ve made significant progress, but there is always more to do.
Today, the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, alongside the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Jenna Sudds, announced that the federal government has reached early learning and child care extension agreements with 11 out of 13 provinces and territories, ensuring families get all the supports they need so they can join the workforce or continue their career while raising their kids.
With these extensions, provinces and territories will receive $36.8 billion to move forward on progress to create new child care spaces, reduce waitlists, and hire more early childhood educators across the country. Affordable child care is good for kids and parents, and it’s good for the economy as well. With this increased and continued investment in early learning and child care, more parents – especially women – can enter the workforce and advance their careers. That means more good-paying jobs, more opportunities for early childhood educators, more economic growth across our communities, and a stronger, fairer Canada for everyone. It is estimated that for every dollar invested in child care, the economy gets $2.80 in return – a testament to the fact that affordable child care is good for families, and good for our country.
Along with extending these agreements, we are also increasing the funding that they provide by 3 per cent per year for four years, starting in 2027-28, to help make sure that federal funding keeps up with the cost of child care operations.
This means more families can continue to access child care, find savings, and get ahead. This investment will also help us reach the goal of creating 250,000 child care spaces across the country by March 2026.
This funding will support 35,000 affordable spaces across nearly 1,000 Indigenous early learning and child care sites, including more than 10 new centres in Métis communities, with additional centres planned in the next two years. It will also help improve child care access for military families on bases across Canada, so our Canadian Armed Forces members get quality care throughout their moves and deployments.
Confident countries invest in themselves and in their future. By extending child care agreements and expanding our investments, we are making life better and easier for Canadians. Alongside investing in affordable child care, we are also building more homes, creating more jobs, and standing up for Canadian interests.
“We didn’t come this far just to come this far. We must keep building on our progress and make $10-a-day child care a reality for every parent who wants a spot for their kid. That’s what these extension agreements are all about. Affordable child care gives parents, especially moms, options. Options to go back to work, build their careers, and save money, while ensuring their kids get the best possible start in life.”
