Trudeau announces $37B in child care deals with 11 provinces and territories

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's authorities has signed agreements totalling astir $37 cardinal implicit 5 years with 11 provinces and territories that volition widen the national child-care programme until 2031.

With conscionable days to spell earlier helium leaves office, Trudeau said Thursday that these deals will ensure the semipermanent viability of 1 of his government's flagship policies. 

Becoming visibly affectional arsenic helium reflected connected his legacy, Trudeau said that helium has worked each time to guarantee helium is putting Canadians archetypal and kid attraction has been 1 of the ways helium has done that.

"I americium present to archer you each that: we got you," Trudeau said. "Even successful the precise past days of this government, we volition not fto Canadians down contiguous and agelong into the future."

"In the past fewer weeks, we person been moving with our provincial and territorial partners to marque definite that families tin trust connected this system, not conscionable for years to come, but volition let this to fastener in, to go thing that nary government, a twelvemonth from now, 5 years from now, 20 years from now, could ever spell backmost on," the premier curate said successful Ottawa connected Thursday.

Trudeau said that portion immoderate authorities tin undo the enactment of a erstwhile government, Canadians tin guarantee kid attraction survives if they are "very wide connected the request to support this going."

Describing kid attraction arsenic a "national building" program, Trudeau said the backing announced Thursday will "make definite that much Canadians implicit the coming years recognize that kid attraction is simply a foundational gathering artifact of what it means to beryllium Canadian, similar wellness care, societal programs or cheering astatine a Canadian anthem."  

Trudeau said that the five-year deals that commencement successful 2026-27 volition not lone assistance money kid attraction successful participating provinces until 2031, but they volition besides summation the basal backing by 3 per cent, per year, for 4 years starting successful 2027-28 successful bid to to marque definite that the programme tin support gait with rising costs. 

Ottawa has not managed to scope an statement with Alberta and Saskatchewan. CBC News is not alert of what these Western provinces were offered. 

This is however the $36.8 billion will beryllium distributed: 

• Quebec: $9.83 billion.
• British Columbia: $5.38 billion.
• Manitoba: $1.9 billion.
• Nova Scotia: $1.05 billion.
• New Brunswick: $876 million.
• Newfoundland and Labrador: $503 million. 
• Prince Edward Island: $199 million.
• Nunavut: $109 million.
• Northwest Territories: $80 million.
• Yukon: $74 million.
• Ontario: $16.77 billion.

Discussions betwixt the Trudeau authorities and the 2 provinces that person not signed an statement are continuing.

In 2021, the national authorities announced a $30 billion, five-year child-care program to make 250,000 caller affordable spaces. It said the program would chopped the costs of those spaces to $10 a time by 2025-26, erstwhile the national authorities began providing a minimum of $9.2 cardinal annually for the program.

Radio-Canada has antecedently revealed that the labour shortage, ostentation and the complexity of the programme person since analyzable the realization of that promise.

On Thursday, Trudeau said that portion the programme has been dilatory to conscionable its goal, since its inception, 150,000 caller child-care spaces person been "created oregon funded" and that this further wealth would make the remaining spaces by this clip adjacent year. 

Pierre Poilievre's Conservative Party voted for the authorities that created the program, but helium is promising changes if helium takes powerfulness to extremity the "chaos" successful kid care.

Former cardinal banker Mark Carney, seen arsenic the front-runner successful the Liberal enactment race, has promised not to chopped national transfers to provinces and individuals.

In the 2021 budget, the national authorities said that of the $30 cardinal promised, $27.2 cardinal volition beryllium utilized to "bring the national authorities to a 50/50 stock of kid attraction costs with provincial and territorial governments." 

As portion of the agreements struck with the provinces, the Liberal government paid $6 cardinal to Quebec, which already had its ain kid attraction program. Under the woody Quebec chose wherever that funding went.