Summary
Overall, Employment and Social Development Canada supported provincial, territorial, and Indigenous initiatives to improve early learning and child care in Canada. Most regulated early learning and child care spaces had become more affordable since 2021 in part because of federal funding.
The government committed to providing $35 billion over 5 years from April 2021 to March 2026 to provincial and territorial governments and Indigenous partners to support a Canada‑wide early learning and child care system. It also committed to providing ongoing funding after those 5 years had elapsed. We found that as of March 2024, provincial and territorial governments reduced the average out‑of‑pocket fees for regulated child care spaces that received federal funding to approximately $16.50 per day across Canada. The target is to reach an average of $10 per day by March 2026. As of March 2024, 5 provinces and 3 territories had already met this target.
The department’s 5‑year targets included not only lowering daily fees but also increasing the available number of regulated early learning and child care spaces by 250,000. However, over 3 years, we found that a little more than 112,000 new spaces had been created. With more than half of the spaces to be created in the final 2 years, there is a risk that the target could not be met, which would mean that families in Canada will have less access to early learning and child care than was planned.
Not only are fewer spaces being created than anticipated, but those spaces may also not be equitably accessible to diverse or vulnerable families. The department did not collect sufficient information to analyze whether the implementation of provincial and territorial plans would provide equitable access, despite that objective having been set out in funding agreements.
The department also lacked information to provide timely or comprehensive reports. For instance, it could not report on progress on initiatives for Indigenous early learning and child care, such as facility renovations or repairs. The department also had difficulty evaluating the performance of provincial and territorial governments, as it did not have comparable information. These gaps in data need to be addressed for the department to better understand whether the system is both financially sustainable and meeting the needs of families in Canada.