Federal funding aimed at boosting daycare, early childhood education
A Saskatchewan-raised federal minister visited Regina on Thursday to tout funding enhancements aimed at making child care more accessible to rural and remote communities across the country.
“When I was growing up in Saskatchewan, the expectation and the reality was if you worked hard and saved wisely, you could afford a home, you could have a decent life and you could raise a family,” said Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson at Thursday's announcement.
“In the context of some of the challenging affordability issues folks are facing today, far too many promises are becoming increasingly difficult to achieve.”
President of Saskatchewan Polytechnic Dr. Larry Rosia welcomed Wilkinson and Anita Anand, president of the Treasury Board of Canada, to the campus Thursday.
“We're going to continue to work hard to make sure future generations, millennials, Gen Z, who have children or are planning to have children, don't have to worry about affording child care,” said Anand. “But we want to do the same for early childhood educators.”
The federal government says it will reduce costs associated with entering early childhood education (ECE) by expanding the Canada Student Loan Forgiveness Program to include early childhood educators starting in 2024-2025.
The total amount of loan forgiveness will increase the longer an individual remains in the profession. Loan forgiveness will also be extended to individuals remaining in rural and remote areas.
“As a former professor and a mother of four, I know the role that a good educator can play in helping the next generation get the brightest start,” said Anand.
The 2024 federal budget proposes allocating $10 million to Employment and Social Development Canada to specifically train early childhood educators.
Ottawa has invested $30 billion to negotiate agreements with each province and territory in Canada to deliver $10-a-day child care by 2026. In Saskatchewan, the agreement negotiated with the feds started saving eligible families $6,900 per child, per year, since implemented in April 2023.
The federal government will also invest $1 billion in loans and $60 million in non-repayable contributions to non-profit childcare providers for the construction and renovation of childcare centres.
It will also make investments to support providers in their applications for funding, which Wilkinson said has proven to be a barrier for many organizations.
“The process of actually going through the application process with the federal government can be quite onerous,” Wilkinson said.
“And so we have also set aside money to actually work with these organizations to be able to make the applications that will allow them to access the money.”
While Saskatchewan continues to see record population growth, Ottawa is hoping these initiatives will help Canadians to affordably raise their families while advancing the ECE sector.
Anand said the additional loan forgiveness, training and infrastructure measures announced Thursday are a comprehensive approach to continue supporting child care in Canada.