Ottawa set to unveil new child care legislation. Here’s what to expect
Global News
The 2021 federal budget pledged $30 billion in new spending on the national child-care system over five years, with another $9.2 billion annually coming after that.
Families Minister Karina Gould is expected to introduce legislation Thursday to strengthen child care in Canada, which is likely to include an effort to secure a long-term role for Ottawa in the new national daycare system.
The Liberal government brought in a national child-care plan that would cut daycare fees by an average of 50 per cent by the end of this year – and down to an average of $10 per day by 2026.
The 2021 federal budget pledged $30 billion in new spending on the national child-care system over five years, with another $9.2 billion annually coming after that.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau later tasked Gould with introducing “federal child-care legislation to strengthen and protect a high-quality Canada-wide child-care system.”
Earlier this year, Gould said the bill would enshrine the principles that provinces and territories agreed to in funding agreements with Ottawa, including the pledge to cut parent fees and create more spaces.
The Liberals promised to introduce the legislation by the end of this year in the confidence-and-supply agreement that would see the New Democrats support the minority government through to 2025.
That agreement specifies the legislation would ensure “that child-care agreements have long-term protected funding that prioritizes non-profit and public spaces.”
The Liberal government of former prime minister Paul Martin signed child-care deals with the provinces with the goal of creating a national daycare system in 2005, but Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper cancelled the agreements after he came to power the next year.
