The Alberta 2012 budget was tabled February 9th.

Government budget documents

Alberta Budget 2012 [3] (includes links to budget speech video, all budget documents, and highlights)

News release: More Alberta families to benefit from child care subsidies (Link is no longer available)

"Effective April 1, the household income that qualifies families to receive maximum subsidy will increase from $35,100 to $50,000 - a 42 per cent increase. With these changes, it is expected that 26,000 subsidies will be provided to eligible low- and middle-income families in the 2012-13 fiscal year."

"Overall, the budget for child care will increase to $264 million in 2012-13, which is a $20.6 million, or 8.4 per cent increase over last fiscal year. Funding for child care subsidies and supports will increase to $173 million, which is a $17 million increase."

Ministry of Education business plan 2012 - 15 [4] (pp. 19-22)

Priority initiative - 1.1 Support the development of an early learning and child care framework in collaboration with other government ministries and stakeholders.

News articles

More Albertans to get childcare subsidies: Tories [5]

CBC News, 17 Feb 2012

Full-day-kindergarten pledge won't be met (Link is no longer available)

Metro Calgary, 10 Feb 2012

NGO responses and related readings

Bittersweet budget has winners and losers [6]

Public Interest Alberta, 9 Feb 2012

Family Day on the treadmill: Alberta families at risk of too much stress [7]

Parkland Institute, 17 Feb 2012

The British Columbia 2012 budget was tabled February 21st, 2012.

Government budget documents

BC Budget 2012 main website [8] (links to all budget documents, highlights, speech and media presentation)

Ministry of Children and Family Development budget overview and funding breakdown [9]

[9]"The Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) budget for 2012/13 has increased by $2.6 million."

News articles

Families First? What it has been, what it should be [10]
Vancouver Sun, 27 Mar 12

The era of tax cut stupidity that starved BC [11]
The Tyee, 27 Feb 2012

Education funding stays virtually flat in new B.C. budget [12]
Vancouver Sun, 22 Feb 2012

NGO responses and related readings

Children and youth get slim pickings in Budget 2012 [13]
First Call BC, 23 Feb 2012

BC 
Budget
 2012
 = 
No
 good 
news 
for 
families 
with 
young 
children [14]
Coalition of Child Care Advocates BC, 22 Feb 2012

The false economy of BC Budget 2012: deficit exaggerated to avoid spending on real problems [15]
Policy Note BC, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 21 Feb 2012

"No progress on solving the child care crisis affecting families
with young children. No relief from high fees, insufficient spaces
and low wages for child care workers. No plans for increasing access
to quality early childhood care and learning for preschoolers."

The Manitoba budget was tabled on April 17th, 2012.

Government budget documents

Main budget website [16]

To help families the budget states that the government of Manitoba will

Meet the commitment to fund 6,500 child care spaces this year.

To help communities the budget states tht the government of Manitoba will

Build or expand 54 child care centres.

The 2012 Manitoba budget address [17]

In 2008, we promised families we would fund 6,500 childcare
spaces and strengthen our child-care system.
Mr. Speaker, at the end of this year, we will have delivered
on that commitment.
A total of 54 child-care centres are being built or
expanded. We continue to support better training and
wages for child-care workers.

Media articles

Child care rates increase in Manitoba [18] [video 2:10]
CBC News, 5 Apr 12

NDP slows child-care funding increases [18]
Winnipeg Free Press, 5 Apr 12

New Brunswick was tabled on March 27, 2012.

Budget documents

Budget website [19]

News release, 27 Mar 12: "Provincial government reduces deficit by half and invests in priorities" [20]

"$3.6 million for early learning and childcare to increase the number of childcare spaces, enhance childcare affordability for low income families and enhance the childcare subsidies for New Brunswick families"

Spending cuts expected in New Brunswick budget [21]

CBC News, 27 Mar 12

The Newfoundland and Labrador budget was tabled April 24, 2012.

Government budget documents

Main budget website [22]

News release, 24 Apr 24: Education Investments Focus on Early Learning, Infrastructure [23]

Budget 2012 includes almost $1.7 million for the second year of implementation of the province's early childhood learning strategy, Learning from the Start, which is designed to enhance early learning opportunities for young children and their families. It is part of a three-year $4.8 million investment, announced last year, with an initial focus on the years from birth to age three.

News release, 18 Apr 12: Budget 2012 Invests $2 Million in Family Child Care [24]

"This investment reaffirms our government's commitment to family child care services," said Minister Johnson. "Building on last year's investment, Budget 2012 will allocate $2 million to the Family Child Care Initiative, which continues to provide much needed regulated child care spaces to families with young children."

[25]

Pre-budget consultation presentation [25], Community Sector Council Newfoundland and Labrador, 18 Jan 12

Poverty Reduction and supporting families
Insufficient quality child care and early learning spaces
•The pressing array of barriers, constraints and affordability is a problem for low income and middle income families especially BUT is also a problem for all income levels in terms of consistent quality and access
-High cost, too few spaces, long waiting periods
-Part time needs but people have to pay full time fee level to attend
-Offering tax credits helps only those who pay taxes, those who use formal care (who have official receipts). Credits are of little value to those who cannot afford to pay and wait for a return upon tax filing
-Limited support for child care subsidies while parents are seeking work
-Restricted hours of service does not meet flexible work shifts

The Northwest Territories budget was tabled on May 24, 2012

Government budget documents

Main budget website [26]

This Budget includes $500,000 to establish Child and Family Services Committees in five communities. These committees allow communities to take a more active role in supporting children and families in a culturally appropriate manner.

The Nova Scotia budget was tabled April 3rd, 2012.

Budget documents

Main Nova Scotia budget website [27] with links to all budget documents.

Budget address [28] (pdf)

Budget highlights [29] (pdf)

"Nova Scotia's Kids and Learning First Plan [30] will help every student succeed.  Budget 2012 provides the first year of multi-year funding to put kids and learning first.
• Funding per student will increase to $10,457, the highest it has ever been.
• Class sizes will remain at their current 20-year low."

Responses and related readings

Nova Scotia Alternative Budget 2012: Forward to fairness [31] [see pg. 43 for Early Learning and Child Care section]
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 22 Mar 12

"NSAB Actions:
• Provide funding to begin the phase-in of an ELCC plan: $45 million for 2012-13.
• Under a planned investment approach, incremental increases  are to follow in subsequent years as the ELCC Action Plan is implemented in stages. NSAB recognizes that some of the subsequent investments will be offset by a planned transition to end existing public subsidies to for-profit operators and re-investing these resources  in the developing system.
• The NSAB also recognizes that there is an urgent need for dedicated federal funding for early learning and childcare to assist the province to implement this plan.
• The NSAB also realizes that public investments must be spent wisely to ensure that they advance the principles outlined above. The NSAB commits to using a tool such as the Child Care System Implementation Model, will assist in this process.

Total new spending in early learning and child care: $45 million."

Media articles

HST cut in Nova Scotia: Detracting from real debate about our future [32]
Christine Saulnier's blog, rabble.ca, 6 Apr 12

"Since this government came into office in 2009, its mantra has been that the government of Nova Scotia needs to "live within its means." But this focus has detracted from the bigger questions we should focus on during budget time and all throughout a government's mandate: what does and what should government do for Nova Scotians and how will it pay for what it needs to do? What is its vision?.... And whether we are talking about health care, education, housing, child care or social assistance, it isn't as if we have fewer problems and thus need less spending. On the contrary, our health profile is worse than the rest of the country. We have no Early Learning and Child Care strategy to speak of."

The Ontario budget was tabled on March 27th, 2012. Prior to the budget, the province held a Commission on the Reform of Ontario's Public Services (the Drummond Commission). The following links provide information on the budget; reactions from child care, education, social policy groups and political parties; as well as information on the Drummond Commission.

Budget documents

Main budget website [33]

Budget hightlights [34]

News release: "Strong action for Ontario" [35]

"The government will continue to build on its plan to have the world's best-educated workforce to ensure future prosperity in the knowledge-based economy by:

- Fully implementing full-day kindergarten by September 2014
- Keeping a cap on class sizes in the early grades"

Responses

Horwath proposal would put some fairness in an unfair Budget [36]
Ontario NDP, 3 Apr 12

"People tell us we need a balanced approach to balancing the budget. If we have to choose between a working mom who needs childcare to keep her job, or someone earning a seven-figure paycheque, let's help that mom."

"New Democrats are proposing... to protect over 4000 childcare spaces so parents can keep working."

Child care already in an "age of austerity" [37]
Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, 27 Mar 12

"Not only was there no funding to sustain child care programs, there was no mention of child care at all in the 2012 Provincial budget."

Completing the job started by Mike Harris [38]
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 27 Mar 12

[The budget] touts its commitment to its initiatives in education. Yet elementary and secondary education will lose over $500 million in cuts identified in the budget.... Child care gets not a mention in the budget, a clear sign that the government intends to walk away from the chaos it created in the child care sector with its ham-handed implementation of full-day kindergarten.

Stringent budgeting for the poor, staying on course for the rich [39]
Ontario Campaign 2000, 27 Mar 12

"The exclusion of child care from this budget is particularly concerning. Affordable, regulated child care is critical to the economic well-being of low income families with children under 4 years old."

Over $500 million cut from education in provincial budget [40]
People for Education, 27 Mar 12

"Education is very expensive, but it is an investment, not just a cost, says Annie Kidder, Executive Director of People for Education. "Each of these cuts will have an impact on students, on the quality of education, and on school communities as a whole."

Ontario budget delivers billions to bankers but job losses and deep cuts for Ontario families [41]
Ontario Federation of Labour, 27 Mar 12

"Lack of funding will cause child care centres to close and force some working mothers out of the labour market."

Ontario needs a recovery budget, not a poverty budget [42]
Canadian Union of Public Employees Ontario, 27 Mar 12

"Balancing the books on the back of a child care worker who makes $28,000 a year or a school secretary who makes $35,000 a year while corporations are enjoying the benefit of huge tax cuts and refusing to create jobs is an outrage."

Austerity budget punishing Ontarians for a deficit they didn't create [43]
Elementary Teachers Federation Ontario, 27 Mar 12

Media articles

Ontario Budget: Parents decry lack of new child care funding [44]
Toronto Star, 27 Mar 12

Full-day kindergarten plan, primary class sizes survive. Teachers are facing two-year wage freeze [45]
Ottawa Citizen, 28 Mar 12

Commission on the Reform of Ontario's Public Services

Report of the Commission on the Reform of Ontario's Public Services [46]
Don Drummond, Government of Ontario, 15 Feb 12

Related readings

Families across Ontario worried about closures of licensed child care centres [47]
Child Care Matters to Me & Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, 26 Mar 12

NDP Education critic Peter Tabuns' statement on child care crisis [48]
Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care, 20 Mar 12

Efficiency and evidence-based practice in early childhood education and care: CRRU's analysis of the ECEC recommendations in the Drummond report
[49]Childcare Resource and Research Unit, 17 Feb 12

Deconstructing Drummond [50]
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 22 Feb 12

Ontario budget 2012: Austerity is bad for our health [51]
Wellesley Institute, 13 Mar 12

Ontario's fiscal reality: Cup half empty or half full? [52]
Hugh Mackenzie, 19 Mar 12

Once the national leader in child care funding Ontario falling farther behind other provinces [53]
Canadian Union of Public Employees, 23 Mar 12

Pre-budget media articles

Ontario budget: Child benefit increase being delayed [54]
Toronto Star, 26 Mar 12

A tale of two deficit budgets [55]
Winnipeg Free press, 19 Mar 12

Ontario budget: Hundreds of daycares will close without new money in the spring budget [56]
Toronto Star, 5 Mar 12

The Prince Edward Island budget was tabled on April 17, 2012.

Government budget documents

Main budget website [58]

Education and Early Childhood Development budget plan [59]

I am pleased to report that an Early Learning Framework, a curriculum document of the Preschool Excellence Initiative, has been developed and will be rolled out across the Island in English and French Early Years Centers in the coming months.Minister Sheridan said the new budget builds on the momentum of previous budgets that have resulted in several major accomplishments.

Budget 2011 supports health, education and a return to balance [60], Policy Monitor, 6 Apr 12

Minister Sheridan said the new budget builds on the momentum of previous budgets that have resulted in several major accomplishments.

It will continue the work that is well underway to provide all Island children with the same access to high quality early learning and child care. Funding for the Preschool Excellence Initiative will increase by $2.7 million this year to $11.3 million, a further increase of 31 per cent.

Funding for the new school-based kindergarten program increased from $3.6 million in 2008 to $11 million this coming year.

The Quebec budget was tabled March 20th, 2012. 

Budget documents

Main Budget website [61]

Budget highlights section 5: The economy at the service of our values [62]

"Family community organizations and community daycare centres provide considerable support to Québec families. An additional amount of $7 million over three years is being allocated to them."

Press release: 2012-2013 Budget: "Quebecers have more money in their pockets." -- Raymond Bachand [63]

Media articles

Private daycares consider pressure campaign [64]
CJAD 800, 26 Mar 12

2012 Québec budget: Timidity and omissions [65]
rabble.ca, 26 Mar 12

Henry Aubin: Budget ignores our pressing needs [66] 
Montreal Gazette, 22 Mar 12

Bachand: Quebecers need to pay for the public services they use [67]
CTV, 11 Mar 12

The Saskatchewan budget was tabled March 21st, 2012.

Budget documents

Main budget website [68]

Ministerial news releases and backgrounders:

Social services Child and Youth Agenda - News release [68] / backgrounder [68]
[68]Education - News release [68] / backgrounder [68]

Support is also being provided for child care; $46 million in operating funding is provided this year, including an increase of $2 million to create 500 new child care spaces and $4 million for the capital costs related to those new spaces. The majority of these spaces will be placed in schools or post-secondary institutions to facilitate continuing education and improved outcomes for young people. $1.0 million in increased operating funding ($18.6 million total) to support the province's vulnerable three and four year-old early learners. Fifteen new pre-kindergarten programs will be developed. This initiative is also supported by $1.0 million in capital funding. This brings the total number of licensed child care spaces to approximately 13,240 and the total number of designated pre-kindergarten programs to 286.

Media articles

Chinook School Division pleased with Provincial budget [69]
Southwest Booster, 25 Mar 12

Saskatchewan budget combines cuts, more spending [70]
CBC News, 21 Mar 12

The Yukon budget was tabled March 15, 2012. 

Budget documents

Budget speech in pdf [71]

Media articles

Yukon government tables biggest budget ever in territory [72]
CBC News, 16 Mar 12

Austerity and other power words [73]
Trish Hennessy, Framed in Canada, 27 Mar 12

Putting the sex into government budgets [74]
Jody Dallaire, Straight Goods, 13 Feb 2012