Full press release
Canada’s national child care advocacy organization says the budget tabled by Finance Minister Champagne could stall and push back Canada’s new national early learning and child care program at a time when Canada’s economy and family affordability rely on the program’s ongoing expansion.
“The federal government’s decision to hold child care transfer payments to provinces and territories at previously announced levels means hundreds of thousands of families will be denied access to the publicly funded Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care program,” says Morna Ballantyne, Child Care Now Executive Director.
“We welcome Prime Minister Carney’s promise to protect affordable child care for the 900,000 children who now have access, but that doesn’t provide comfort to all the families who are on waitlists or for those who live in communities where there is no licensed child care,” said Ballantyne. She added that the federal government’s failure to increase public investments in child care as part of its economic plan puts the national child care program’s viability at risk, noting that child care providers are struggling to stay open as operational costs increase, and qualified early childhood educators are fleeing the sector for better paid work.
"It is crucial that the Carney government invest more in the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care program given the enormous benefits for the economy, children, and gender equality across Canada." Morna Ballantyne, Child Care Now Executive Director.
Child Care Now is also concerned that, without additional child care funds in Budget 2025, it will be more difficult for the federal government to convince the Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan governments to stick with the $10aDay child care plan. The three provincial governments have refused so far to renew the child care funding agreements that other provincial and territorial governments signed in early 2025. Failure to reach new funding agreements will mean a sharp rise in parent fees after March 31, 2026. Additionally, the steady increase in the number of new spaces over the past four years in those provinces will likely halt or reverse.
Child Care Now notes that federal investments in child care between 2021 and now have generated major economic returns for Canada, including a significant increase in women’s labour force participation. A 2024 economic study found that expansion of child care services likely prevented Canada from experiencing a technical recession in the second half of 2023. Furthermore, lower parent fees under the program have offered families needed financial relief and helped lower the rate of inflation.
“It is crucial that the Carney government invest more in the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care program given the enormous benefits for the economy, children, and gender equality across Canada,” said Ballantyne.
“We are urging the House of Commons and Senate to push for budget amendments to make $10aDay child care more available, and to protect the reduced parent fees that have been achieved through the federal program.”