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Policy Monitor

The Policy Monitor tracks Federal, Provincial and Territorial early childhood policy initiatives, developments and announcements.

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Ontario
Excerpt: "Ontario is also investing in smaller class sizes for students in full-day kindergarten (FDK) and Grades 4-8. FDK classes, which are supported by a teacher and an early childhood educator, will now be capped at 30 students next school year, falling to 29 students in 2018-19, and average no more than 26 students per class within each school board. Support will also be provided to ensure that for students in grades 4-8, all school boards have average class sizes of 24.5 or fewer students."
$2 million to be added to the base amount of $12.5 million to broaden the eligibility for the Child Care Subsidy Program, which will reduce costs for low to middle income families; $1.3 million increase to the Early Learning and Child Care Supplement; Over $13 million annually for full-day Kindergarten across the province.

Newfoundland & Labrador
Excerpt: "Indicative of our Government's commitment to early learning and child care, we will increase child care subsidies available to low income families throughout the province by increasing the income threshold eligibility requirement. Our Government will also look to increase the Early Learning and Child Care Supplement for qualifying early childhood educators."

Quebec
Excerpt: "In order to enhance support for Québec families, the Québec Economic Plan provides for an additional investment of close to $130 million over six years for family services. $20 million will be allocated to the Ministère de la Famille for 2016-2017 to provide community-based financial assistance, including $10 million, which will be drawn from available budget funds over the year. Funding of $7.4 million will also be granted to the Ministère de la Famille for 2016-2017. These sums will be drawn directly from availabilities during the year. Further more, additional appropriations of $20 million per year for the period from 2017-2018 to 2021-2022 will be granted to the Ministère de la Famille."

Saskatchewan
Excerpt: "$55.8 million for child care funding – 889 childcare spaces created."

Canada
Excerpt: "Budget 2017 proposes to invest an additional $7 billion over 10 years, starting in 2018–19, to support and create more high-quality, affordable child care spaces across the country. A portion of this investment will be dedicated to early learning and child care programs for Indigenous children living on- and off-reserve.

"To ensure that Canadian families have better access to high-quality, affordable child care, the Government is working with the provinces and territories to develop a National Framework on Early Learning and Child Care, focusing on best practices and new approaches to best serve families."

"In addition, a distinct Indigenous Framework on Early Learning and Child Care, will be created in cooperation with Indigenous partners. The distinct Indigenous framework will reflect the unique cultures and needs of First Nations, Inuit and Métis children across Canada."

Alberta
Excerpt: "The newly established Ministry of Children’s Services creates an increased focus on ensuring Alberta’s children are provided with services and supports they need to thrive; Budget 2017 provides stable funding for the child intervention system and provides a solid foundation to strengthen the system; The Alberta Child Benefit provides $174 million in 2017-18 with up to $2,785 each year to Alberta’s most vulnerable families, in support of about 200,000 children; The Alberta Family Employment Tax Credit supports working families with children by providing a maximum annual credit of $773 for families with one child, and up to $2,038 for families with 4 children or more."

Manitoba
Excerpt: "The Manitoba government is committing $6,181,500 for 15 community-based capital projects that will create up to 739 new licensed child-care spaces and is launching new measures to increase the efficiency of the licensed early learning and child-care system by addressing regulatory barriers for operators, Families Minister Scott Fielding announced today."

Nunavut
Excerpt: "$1.6 M to the Nunavut Arctic College to support a new law program in partnership with the University of Saskatchewan, launching this fall. The GN is also providing $1.3M to help the College fund its Social Worker and Early Childhood Education programs."

Nova Scotia
This report presents the findings of Year 2 of the four-year evaluation of the Nova Scotia Early Years Centre initiative, led by an evaluation team from Dalhousie University, research Power Incorporated, and Mount Saint Vincent University) and funded by the Margaret and Wallace McCain Family Foundation. Key lessons learned and issues for further consideration are provided to support continuous program improvements at the local and provincial levels of the system.

New Brunswick
Excerpt: "Understanding the importance of early childhood education in the years before kindergarten and the struggle many families face over the cost of daycare, our government will increase the amount it provides to New Brunswickers to help pay for the cost of daycare. By January 1, 2018, in keeping with our platform commitment, we will have doubled the budget of the daycare assistance program."

British Columbia
Excerpt: "To increase accessibility of child care, $20 million of that investment in 2017-18 will support the creation of up to 2,000 new, additional, child care spaces. These spaces are in addition to government’s current goal of creating 13,000 new licensed child care spaces between 2014 and 2020, announced as part of the B.C. Early Years Strategy."