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.
Fairness for every generation means access to affordable child care.” said Deputy PM and Minister of finance Chrystia Freeland . “We’re building more affordable spaces and recruiting more early childhood educators, to save more parents thousands of dollars every year.”