SURREY, BC, March 28, 2024 /CNW/ - Everyone deserves to succeed. But today, for too many Canadians, your hard work isn't paying off like it did for previous generations. Your paycheque doesn't go as far as costs go up, and saving enough to go after your dreams seems harder and harder. It doesn't have to be this way. Everyone deserves a fair shot at success.

Part of what fairness looks like is making sure that we support each other at every stage of life, and invest in each other. That starts from childhood. Every child deserves the best start in life, but for too long, child care costs were as much as a rent or mortgage payment. This makes it harder to start and support a family, and as a result, parents - especially moms - often face impossible choices between their careers and child care fees. That's why we introduced $10-a-day child care across Canada - with all provinces and territories already offering, or on track to offer, $10-a-day child care, and with record levels of women participating in the workforce.

But not enough families have access to affordable child care spaces - so we're building more.

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced measures from the upcoming Budget 2024 to build more affordable child care spaces - saving more families thousands of dollars and helping more parents return to their careers.

These measures include:

• Launching a new Child Care Expansion Loan Program. With $1 billion in low-cost loans and $60 million in non-repayable grants, public and not-for-profit child care providers will be able to build new spaces and renovate their existing child care centres. This means more resources for child care providers and more affordable child care options for families.
• Offering student loan forgiveness for rural and remote early childhood educators. This will encourage educators to work in smaller communities and help families get the child care they need. With a $48 million investment over four years, student loan forgiveness will increase the longer an educator works in a rural or remote area, attracting and retaining the talent, similar to the programs we're offering rural doctors and nurses.
• Increasing training for early childhood educators. We're investing $10 million over two years to train more early childhood educators, building up the talent needed for the expansion of affordable, high-quality child care.

While in Surrey, British Columbia, the Prime Minister also announced that the Government of Canada is providing British Columbia with $69.9 million to create new child care spaces and support inclusive child care services across the province. This investment, through the Early Learning and Child Care Infrastructure Fund, means more spaces - and more affordable spaces - for families in British Columbia.

Additionally, British Columbia announced that over 930 child care spaces are moving into the province's $10 a Day ChildCareBC program this spring, which will save families an average of $920 a month per child. These spaces mean the Province has met - and exceeded - its target of bringing the number of $10 a Day ChildCareBC spaces to 15,000 by this spring.

In just three years, we've made incredible progress in building the Canada-wide early learning and child care system. Across the country, over 750,000 kids are already benefiting from affordable, high-quality child care, with some families saving up to $14,000 per child, per year. Alongside provinces and territories, we have also announced over 100,000 new spaces, well on our way to reaching our goal of creating 250,000 new spaces by March 2026.

This is just one of the things that we are going to be doing in this budget to support families and build an economy that is fair for every generation. Alongside affordable child care, we're investing in good health care, dental care, protecting pensions, and increasing access to medications, to make sure every generation can be safe and healthy to get ahead. This will build on the already historic investments we have made to build a strong social safety net and strengthen the middle class. We're doing this not just because it's good social policy, but because it's good economic policy. When workers are well supported, our businesses do well, our economy does well, and that means everyone, in every generation, benefits.

"Affordable child care gives moms and dads the opportunity to build their careers, helps families save money, and gives kids the best start to life. That's why in Budget 2024, we're taking action to build more child care spaces, hire more early childhood educators, give them more training, and work with provinces like British Columbia to make sure families get the comfort and security they deserve. Fairness is making sure we support each other and build a better future - that's what affordable child care is all about."

- The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

"Young families who don't yet have access to affordable child care spaces are paying nearly a second rent or mortgage payment for unregulated child care. This is unfair to today's generation of parents, including Millennial parents, who need and deserve the relief of $10-a-day spaces. With today's new action to build more affordable spaces and attract and train more early childhood educators, we are helping more families across Canada access affordable child care and save thousands of dollars every year."

- The Hon. Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance

"In just three years, we have made incredible progress in making our Canada-wide early learning and child care system a reality for families. More parents who never thought it was possible can now afford high-quality early learning and child care. As we create more spaces, more parents are entering or re-entering the workforce, supporting a stronger economy. With today's announcement we are ensuring that every family who wants a high-quality, affordable child care spot, has one."

- The Hon. Jenna Sudds, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development

• The Government of Canada's Budget 2024 will be tabled in the House of Commons by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.
• Yesterday, the Prime Minister announced Budget 2024 would restore generational fairness for renters, particularly Millennials and Gen Z, by taking new action to protect renters' rights and unlock pathways for them to become homeowners.
• As part of Budget 2021, the Government of Canada made a transformative investment of more than $27 billion over five years to build a Canada-wide early learning and child care system with provinces and territories. Combined with other investments, including in Indigenous early learning and child care, up to $30 billion over five years is being provided in support of early learning and child care.
  • Investments in child care benefit all Canadians. Studies show that for every dollar invested in early childhood education, the broader economy receives between $1.50 and $2.80 in return.
  • In 2023, Canada saw a record 79.7 per cent labour force participation rate for core-aged mothers of children under age six.
• To date, over half of the provinces and territories are delivering regulated child care for an average of $10-a-day or less, including Quebec and the Yukon, which achieved this prior to the Canada-wide system. In all other provinces and territories, fees for regulated child care have been reduced by at least 50 per cent on average. Provinces and territories are working toward lowering fees for regulated child care to $10-a-day on average by March 2026.
  • Canada-wide early learning and child care is saving families, per child, up to $13,700 a year in Alberta, $8,500 in Ontario, $6,900 in Saskatchewan, $6,600 in British Columbia, $6,300 in Newfoundland and Labrador, $6,000 in Nova Scotia, $4,170 in Prince Edward Island, $3,600 in New Brunswick, $2,610 in Manitoba, $7,300 in the Yukon, $9,120 in the Northwest Territories (effective April 1, 2024), and $14,300 in Nunavut.
• As part of the Canada-wide early learning and child care system, the Government of Canada is working with provinces and territories to create 250,000 new child care spaces across the country by March 2026 to increase access to affordable child care options for families, no matter where they live.
  • To support this goal, the federal government previously announced the Early Learning and Child Care Infrastructure Fund. The Fund provides an additional $625 million to provinces and territories to support infrastructure projects for not-for-profit child care spaces in underserved communities, such as rural and remote regions, high-cost and low-income urban neighbourhoods, and communities that face barriers to access, including racialized groups, Indigenous Peoples, official language minority communities, newcomers, as well as parents, caregivers, and children with disabilities.
• To give every child the best start in life, the federal government is also:
  • Giving families more money through the Canada Child Benefit to help with the costs of raising their children and make a real difference in the lives of children in Canada. The Canada Child Benefit, which can provide up to $7,437 per child per year, is indexed annually to keep up with the cost of living and has helped lift half a million children out of poverty since its launch in 2016.
  • Improving access to dental health care for children under the age of 12 through the Canada Dental Benefit, and soon for children under 18 with the Canadian Dental Care Plan, because no one should have to choose between taking care of their kids' teeth and putting food on the table.

This document is also available at https://pm.gc.ca

SOURCE Prime Minister's Office