Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and Canada agree on three-year child care action plan
The government of Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador have announced a new action plan to advance the implementation of the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement.
Newfoundland and Labrador is the fourth province to finalize an action plan with the Government of Canada for the 2023-2026 period, ensuring that federal funding continues to support early learning and child care across the province.
The province has already reached $10 a day for parent fees and will continue investing to maintain this fee reduction. Additionally, the province aims to create 5,895 new child care spaces by March 2026. These new spaces will be distributed across the non-profit and public sector, including the Pre-Kindergarten program as well as 200 child care spaces dedicated to health care workers.
Funding will be sustained to support the Early Childhood Educator (ECE) wage grid introduced in April 2023, along with a new benefits program set to launch in fall 2024. Newfoundland and Labrador also plans to increase the percentage of qualified ECEs working in regulated child care to 80%, revise certification processes, and develop a provincial post-secondary curriculum for ECEs.
Despite ongoing calls from child care advocates for decent pensions, the province has not committed to developing a pension plan for the workforce.
The action plan also prioritizes expanding child care in underserviced areas, including rural, linguistic minority, and Indigenous communities. As part of this initiative, Newfoundland and Labrador has introduced a new Non-Standard Hours of Care trial to fund family child care providers offering extended hours, including overnight care. Additionally, the 160 new $10 a day centre-based child care spaces for families with irregular working hours, initially scheduled for May, are now expected to open this fall.
For more details, read the news release and the full 2024-2026 action plan.