CCPA’s 2025 Alternative Federal Budget calls for increased investment in the child care workforce and public expansion
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) has released its 2025 Alternative Federal Budget (AFB), titled “A Platform for the Future, from the Ground Up,” which outlines a vision for a future where “where everyone in Canada can access the best public services, can get the income support they need to move out of poverty, and can tackle the greatest challenges of our time—such as income inequality, climate change, the cost of living, racism and truth and reconciliation.” The release of this year’s AFB is particularly significant, as it anticipates a federal election in 2025.
Child Care Now was pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to the child care chapter of the AFB. The chapter on child care calls for the 2025 federal budget to include new funding and clear incentives for provinces and territories to:
- Fairly compensate the child care workforce: This includes implementing wage grids to ensure equitable pay based on qualifications and experience, and improving benefits and pensions to match those in the public sector.
- Expand child care in publicly owned facilities: The AFB advocates for a more significant role for public entities in child care expansion, emphasizing the benefits of publicly funded and non-profit spaces over for-profit centres.
Three major barriers to creating more high-quality child care spaces are identified:
- Staff shortages: Low wages, minimal benefits, and poor working conditions in the child care sector contribute to a shortage of qualified staff.
- Lack of public child care expansion model: Provinces and territories have not developed the necessary frameworks to expand publicly owned child care facilities, similar to schools and hospitals.
- Inadequate public operating funding: Many provinces and territories do not provide sufficient funding to support high-quality child care programs.
To address these challenges, the AFB calls to implement two key actions for the 2025 federal budget:
- $10 billion in new Early Learning and Child Care Workforce funds over five years, transferable to provinces and territories if/once they have developed—and then to spend only on—a Child Care Wage Grid and Child Care Pension and Benefits Plan.
- Boost the existing Early Learning and Child Care Infrastructure Fund by $15 billion over five years to fund the creation of early learning and child care and school-age child care programs in publicly owned facilities
Read the 2025 Alternative Federal Budget (AFB)
Read the 2025 AFB’s Child care chapter