Introduction

The Province of New Brunswick is pleased to present its Action Plan 2023‑2026 under the Canada‑New Brunswick Canada‑Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement 2021‑2026 (Canada‑Wide Agreement), the Canada‑New Brunswick Early Learning and Child Care Bilateral Agreement 2021‑2025 (Bilateral Agreement) and the Canada‑New Brunswick Early Learning and Child Care Infrastructure Funding Agreement for fiscal years 2023‑2024 through 2025‑2026 (Infrastructure Funding Agreement).

The purpose of this action plan is to outline New Brunswick’s key goals and priorities for the federal funding under the Bilateral Agreement, the Canada‑Wide Agreement and the Infrastructure Funding Agreement as well as the actions to be taken in fiscal years 2023‑2024, 2024‑2025, and 2025‑2026 under these agreements. New Brunswick’s overall goals under the Canada‑Wide Agreement include:

• Increasing access to high‑quality, affordable, inclusive and flexible Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC);
• Reducing out‑of‑pocket fees paid by families to an average of $10 per day for regulated and designated ELCC spaces by 2025‑2026;
• Providing a quality and inclusive learning environment to support the healthy development and growth of children;
• Valuing the ELCC workforce, attracting more people to the profession, and providing them with training and development opportunities; and
• Continuing to collect common, publicly available data to measure progress, report to Canadians, and to help continuously improve the system.