Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada is investing over $27 billion over five years to build a Canada-wide early learning and child care system, ensuring all families have access to high-quality, affordable, flexible, and inclusive regulated early learning and child care no matter where they live.

Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreements have been signed with all provinces and territories (PTs), including an asymmetrical agreement with Quebec, to reduce fees for regulated child care to an average of $10-a-day across Canada by March 2026.

The terms and conditions under which the federal government transfers funding to provinces and territories is outlined in the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreements. Each province or territory is allocated base funding of $2 million, and the remainder of each province and territory’s funding is calculated using the formula F x K/L, where F is the annual total funding amount transferred to provinces and territories for the fiscal year minus the base funding from all provinces and territories; K is the total population of children aged 0 to 12 in [province/territory] on July 1 of that fiscal year, as determined using population estimates from Statistics Canada; and L is the total population of children aged 0 to 12 on July 1 of that fiscal year, as determined using population estimates from Statistics Canada.

Each Agreement outlines the province or territory’s projected share of total notional financial provisions for each fiscal year from 2021-2022 to 2025-2026, subject to Parliamentary appropriations.

Under the Constitution Act, 1867, provinces and territories have primary responsibility for matters pertaining to education, including the design and delivery of early learning and child care programs and services. Each province and territory has its own system governed by legislative and regulatory frameworks, including varying licensing standards. To this end, any requirements a province and territory may put in place regarding the provision of funding to operators is at their discretion, provided these requirements meet the terms and conditions outlined in the Canada-wide Agreements. As such, the Government of Canada is not in a position to provide information regarding the dollar amount per child enrolled in the system, as each province and territory would have their own respective mechanisms to allocate the funding.

Élisabeth Brière

$501,370.00