Thursday March 6, 2025 | OTTAWA, ON [reporting from VICTORIA, BC]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Child care is a foundational building block of a strong economy, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today in a child care announcement in Ottawa.
“Child care is not a luxury, it’s a necessity,” something that he says became quite evident during the pandemic.
Another 150,000 new affordable child care spaces are on track for this year, with more to come next year, said Trudeau, in a joint press conference with Jenna Sudds, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development.
The availability of child care services reduces income inequality and child poverty, the prime minister said today.
“Child care is a matter of fairness. It strengthens our economy and makes it more resilient,” said Trudeau, noting that the Conservatives have always voted against it in the House of Commons.
Child care that should endure:
“Quality child care is nation building,” Trudeau insists in these last days of his career as prime minister. A new Liberal leader will be announced this weekend, on Sunday March 9.
He believes his government has locked in child care in a way that can’t be undone by future governments. “Canadians need to be very clear on the need to keep this going. It’s a foundational building block of what it means to be Canadian,” said Trudeau.
Eleven of 13 provinces now have funding agreements with the federal government through to March 2031.
He notes that provincial Liberal, Conservative and NDP governments have been part of this success.
===== RELATED:
NEWS SECTIONS: CHILDREN AND CHILD CARE | CANADIAN FEDERAL ELECTION 2025
Affordable child care, a stronger economy
Prime minister’s news release | March 6, 2025
Every child deserves the best start in life. But for young families, the costs of child care can add up to a second rent or mortgage payment. As a result, parents – especially moms – often face impossible choices between their careers and child care fees.
As a government, we introduced the first-of-its-kind, universal $10-a-day child care program, so that families can save thousands of dollars every year and access affordable child care. Because of our Early Learning and Child Care program, 900,000 children across Canada are getting affordable, high-quality child care, and families are saving up to $16,200 per child, per year.
We’ve made significant progress, but there is always more to do.
Today, the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, alongside the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Jenna Sudds, announced that the federal government has reached early learning and child care extension agreements with 11 out of 13 provinces and territories, ensuring families get all the supports they need so they can join the workforce or continue their career while raising their kids.
With these extensions, provinces and territories will receive $36.8 billion to move forward on progress to create new child care spaces, reduce waitlists, and hire more early childhood educators across the country. Affordable child care is good for kids and parents, and it’s good for the economy as well. With this increased and continued investment in early learning and child care, more parents – especially women – can enter the workforce and advance their careers. That means more good-paying jobs, more opportunities for early childhood educators, more economic growth across our communities, and a stronger, fairer Canada for everyone. It is estimated that for every dollar invested in child care, the economy gets $2.80 in return – a testament to the fact that affordable child care is good for families, and good for our country.
Along with extending these agreements, we are also increasing the funding that they provide by 3 per cent per year for four years, starting in 2027-28, to help make sure that federal funding keeps up with the cost of child care operations.
This means more families can continue to access child care, find savings, and get ahead. This investment will also help us reach the goal of creating 250,000 child care spaces across the country by March 2026.
This funding will support 35,000 affordable spaces across nearly 1,000 Indigenous early learning and child care sites, including more than 10 new centres in Métis communities, with additional centres planned in the next two years. It will also help improve child care access for military families on bases across Canada, so our Canadian Armed Forces members get quality care throughout their moves and deployments.
Confident countries invest in themselves and in their future. By extending child care agreements and expanding our investments, we are making life better and easier for Canadians. Alongside investing in affordable child care, we are also building more homes, creating more jobs, and standing up for Canadian interests.