The federal government has announced the extension of the Canada-wide early learning and child care bilateral agreements with 11 of 13 provinces and territories.

In 2021, the Government of Canada made a historic commitment to build a universal, high quality national child care system. All provinces and territories reached agreements with the federal government by March 2022.

British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut have signed extensions to maintain the $10-a-day child care plan until at least 2031. Quebec’s funding agreement with the federal government has also been extended.

Regrettably, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe have so far refused to sign an extension, jeopardizing affordable child care for families and causing concern for early learning and child care workers in those provinces. CUPE will continue to work with community child care advocates to pressure Premier Smith and Premier Moe to sign a deal.

Stability amidst political and economic uncertainty

Communities across the country are worried about a potential recession and return of inflation arising from Trump’s trade war with Canada. As a federal election approaches, Pierre Poilievre and the Conservative Party of Canada refuse to commit to keeping the $10-a-day plan, which was set to expire in 2026. News of the extension agreements provide much needed stability for early learning and child care workers, operators and families.

In just four years of the $10-a-day plan, the economic benefits are obvious. Families in all provinces are benefitting from reduced fees and new public funding for child care programs. In most provinces and territories, $10-a-day child care is a reality. In all other provinces, parent fees have been cut by at least half and are on track to reach $10-a-day by March 2026. This provided significant financial relief during a cost-of-living crisis. As consumer prices for virtually everything else went up, the cost of child care went down. The reduction in child care fees helped keep the overall inflation rate lower than it otherwise would have been.

More women are now working. Since 2019, an additional 110,000 women age 25-54 are participating in the labour force. The share of women working full-time increased by 2 percentage points over the same period.

Early learning and child care workers in many provinces started to see some progress on working conditions.

It’s estimated that the $10-a-day plan contributed $32 billion to Canada’s GDP in 2024 alone.


Time to strengthen and expand the program

With longer term funding agreements in place, it’s time for the parties to negotiate new action plans to strengthen and expand the $10-a-day Child Care Plan over the next five years.

The federal government needs to step up and resolve the longstanding shortage of early learning and child care workers for the $10-a-day Plan to grow. Workers today are undervalued. Low wages, little to no benefits or retirement security and poor working conditions are widespread, causing significant recruitment and retention challenges.

Alberta and Ontario still have not committed to a wage grid that would raise the floor for all workers. Few provinces have introduced sector-wide pension plans and extended health and dental benefits. To date, only Nova Scotia has used federal funding to provide a defined benefit pension as well as extended health and dental benefits to its early learning and child care workers.

CUPE has called on the federal government to immediately fund a national workforce strategy for early learning and child care. The federal government has yet to release its promised workforce strategy.

With more families able to afford childcare under the $10-a-day Plan, demand continues to rise. A more concerted effort is needed to increase the number of public and non-profit child care spaces to eliminate waitlists. The federal government needs to further incentivize provinces and territories to use their existing public facilities, like municipal buildings, schools and hospitals, to create more $10-a-day child care spaces.

The federal government can no longer allow federal funding to be spent by some provinces on expanding the for-profit child care sector, which currently is the case in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Ontario and Alberta. Any further expansion of for-profit child care will undermine the goals of the $10-a-day plan. For-profit child care operators chose to expand where it is most profitable to do so, not where it is most needed. For-profit operators prioritize profits over workers’ wages and working conditions. In Ontario, some for-profit operators have even campaigned against the $10-a-day Plan. The federal government must ensure public funding expands access to affordable, high-quality programming in non-profit and public centres, not lining the pockets of for-profit operators.