Early Learning and Child Care in Manitoba – A Plan for Action

Manitoba continues with efforts to modernize early learning and child care (ELCC), building a stronger and more responsive system to ensure high-quality, affordable and accessible services for all families and to advance Manitoba’s economic growth by supporting parents to participate in the workforce.

Overview

Investing in Early Learning and Child Care – AUGUST 2023 UPDATE

 

Canada-Manitoba, Canada –Wide ELCC Agreement

On August 9, 2021, the Governments of Canada and Manitoba signed the new Canada-Manitoba, Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. The agreement will provide $1.2 billion in federal funding over the next five years to reduce licensed child care costs for families to an average out-of-pocket cost for parents of $10/day and to expand access to more quality, inclusive child care spaces for children zero to six years of age.

Manitoba’s Canada-Wide Action Plan: Throughout fall 2021, Manitoba and Canada worked towards finalizing Manitoba’s Action Plan, released on December 21, 2021. The action plan initiatives focus on the unique needs of Manitoba families, communities and child care providers and provide the building blocks to inform further development of these and other initiatives through consultation and engagement with parents and the early learning and child care sector. The Canada-Manitoba, Canada-Wide ELCC Agreement, is one of three federal allocations under the two Agreements intended to promote growth and stability of the regulated child care sector.

Canada-Manitoba ELCC Agreement

On February 22 2022, Manitoba and Canada signed a close to $98 million 2021-2022 to 2024-2025 Canada-Manitoba ELCC Agreement to strengthen Manitoba’s regulated child care services and offer support for the recruitment and retention of the child care workforce. The agreement builds on previous ELCC bilateral agreements of 2017-2018 to 2019-2020 and 2020-2021.

Under this agreement, Manitoba also developed an action plan for 2021/22 that invests $15.5 million for ongoing commitments made under previous agreements and a further $19.2 million in one-time Early Childhood Workforce Funding (dedicated initiatives to recruitment, retention and early learning and child care workforce growth); and an action plan for 2022/23 that provided $22.6M to continue with investments.

The funding under this agreement enables Manitoba to further build its early learning and child care system by addressing local, regional and system priorities that have an impact on families more in need by increasing the quality, accessibility, affordability, flexibility and inclusivity in early learning and child care.

Areas of focus include building on existing investments in Manitoba early learning and child care to enhance and expand early learning and child care services and programs that support the needs of children, parents, families, and communities in Manitoba.

The initiatives under Manitoba’s two ELCC Agreements with Canada, the Canada - Manitoba, Canada Wide ELCC Agreement, the Canada-Manitoba ELCC Agreement, including the one-time Early Child Workforce Funding are interconnected and will inform Manitoba’s roadmap for transformation of the current ELCC system.

Key Priorities

The agreements between Canada and Manitoba establish a partnership to continue working towards implementing an accessible system capable of growing to meet the needs of all families looking for a licensed child care space, prioritizing those that are higher in need.  This systemic transformation is based on a common set of interrelated principles:

  • Accessibility - Improved responsiveness of the early learning and child care system through greater flexibility in operational hours, expansion of child care spaces and choice.
  • Affordability - Balanced affordability of child care fees based on income levels  with financial assistance for providers through a modernized, equitable funding approach
  • Quality - Improved child care services through attraction and retention of quality child care educators including training, curriculum redevelopment for child care programming, a certification process that supports career laddering and enhanced wages.
  • Inclusivity - Enhanced adaptable curriculum framework to integrate Indigenous, cultural and community perspectives ensuring vulnerable communities – including children with disabilities and children needing enhanced or individual supports, racialized children, children of newcomers, and official language minorities – have equitable access to regulated child care spaces.
  • Reporting - Enhanced and/or new IT business solutions to demonstrate sound potential for favourable returns on investment through on-going cost- benefit analyses of child care investments producing solid results towards a sustainable long-term funding and capacity building approach.

The principles for building an improved and modernized system will be anchored by a new legislation and policy framework promoting a foundation that will allow the flexibility to support continuous improvements to funding and targeted supports for regulated child care providers and families.

ELCC Agreement Action Plan

Manitoba Action Plans (PDF)

Canada-Manitoba Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement 2021-2023 Action Plan

Canada-Manitoba Early Learning and Child Care Agreement 2022-2023 Action Plan

2021/2022 Canada-Manitoba Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement Annual Report (PDF)

News Releases

August 1, 2023
Canada, Manitoba Governments Renew Action Plans to Affirm Child-Care Priorities

July 26, 2023
Canada, Manitoba Governments Create 98 New Child-Care Spaces with $4-Million Investment

July 21, 2023
Governments of Canada, Manitoba Celebrate Opening of the First of Eight New Ready-to-Move Child-Care Centres

July 20, 2023
Governments of Canada and Manitoba Announces More Than 3,700 New Child-Care Spaces in Schools, Post-Secondary Institutions

July 11, 2023
Governments of Canada and Manitoba Announce $13.5 Million in Funding to Create Additional 450 Child-Care Spaces

June 15, 2023
Canada, Manitoba Governments Investing $30 Million in Early Learning and Child-Care Training Program Expansion and Tuition Reimbursement

April 27, 2023
Governments of Canada and Manitoba Announce Partnership with Morrow Avenue Day Care Inc. to Implement Abecedarian Approach at Rene Deleurme Centre

April 27, 2023
Canada, Manitoba Announce $56.1 Million for Wage Increases to Support Early Learning and Child-Care Workers Across Manitoba

March 3, 2023
Manitoba Government Sets Stage for $10-A-Day Child Care, Prioritizing New Spaces, Training Early Learning and Child-Care Professionals, and Ensuring Access Across the Province

March 3, 2023
$10-a-Day Child Care Soon a Reality for Families in Manitoba

February 23, 2023
Governments of Canada and Manitoba to Provide $60 Million to Child-Care Providers for Facility Infrastructure Improvements, Curriculum Development and Workforce Retention

February 16, 2023
Governments of Canada, Manitoba Increase Access to Child Care in Rural Manitoba, First Nations Communities

November 14, 2022
Manitoba Government Partners to Create 1,200 New Child-Care Spaces in Rural Communities Over the Next Year

October 27, 2022
Governments of Canada and Manitoba introduce Early Childhood Educator Tuition Reimbursement Initiative

September 28, 2022
Governments of Canada and Manitoba Invest $300,000 to Implement Indigenous-Focused Programming for Child-Care Facilities

June 27, 2022
Governments of Canada and Manitoba allocate $8.1 Million to Fund over 3,100 Child Care Spaces Across the Province.

June 27, 2022
Governments of Canada and Manitoba Commit Nearly $37 Million to Support Wage Equity in the Early Learning and Child- Care Sector

February 22, 2022
Canada-Manitoba Early Learning and Child-Care Agreement to Strengthen Child Care and Support Recruitment, Retention of Early Childhood Workforce Across Manitoba

February 3, 2022
Canada and Manitoba Make Child Care More Affordable for Low and Middle-Income Families

December 21, 2021
Manitoba Publishes Early Learning And Child-Care Agreement With Federal Government

August 9, 2021
$10 a day Child Care for Families in Manitoba


Early Learning and Child Care Program 210-114 Garry Street, Winnipeg MB R3C 4V4

Email: cdcinfo@gov.mb.ca

Phone: 204-945-0776 Toll-free: 1-888-213-4754 Fax: 204-948-2625 TTY: 204-945-3724

Hours: Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m