QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Jobs and Families
Early Learning and Child Care Agreements
December 9, 2025
Welcome, minister. It’s good to see you here. I will follow up on the child care question. I have long held the view that we need to make Canada’s national child care system one that truly creates universal and accessible child care, prioritizing the most vulnerable families.
It was encouraging last week to learn of the one-year extension to the Canada–Ontario Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement until March 2027.
Minister, can you tell us the status of agreements with other provinces and territories? Can you explain why we aren’t seeing multi-year renewals instead of one-year renewals, like what was announced in Ontario?
Thank you very much, Your Honour. I thank the senator for her advocacy for early learning and child care. It must seem like a long road, but there is a federal program now that supports families across the country.
This is a historic initial investment of $27 billion over five years. The senator is right; we are in the process of renegotiating with three provinces. We have one-year extensions now with two. One province, Saskatchewan, has signed on for an additional five years.
The question is the sufficiency of money. The question is the targeted outcomes, and the question is around better data sharing. For the two provinces that are in a one-year extension condition, there are more conversations to be had over the next several months.
Rest assured, I believe that all provinces and territories want to sustain an early learning and child care program. I believe all provinces and territories understand how it benefits the parents, as well as the children in care. We will work very closely with the advisory committee to ensure that we do this in the right way to protect early learning and child care and to expand access to all parents.
Minister, there’s no question that we need well-paid child care staff doing this critical work, with the right infrastructure and significant funding to match the need. Can you tell us what is being done to invest in a well-paid, trained early learning and child care workforce?
I would say the work we’ve done with provinces and territories has also addressed pay, although pay does still remain in the care and control of provinces and territories. But we have provided provinces and territories extra support to increase wages and, in some cases, to provide access to pensions for the very first time for these care workers.
It is important, and I will reiterate that we consider the care economy as a foundational pillar of all of the other sectors in the Canadian economy. Without good-quality care, parents can’t get to work. They can’t contribute to their fullest extent. It’s my determination that we will continue this work with provinces and territories, and we will respect this profession.
