New Brunswick announces the creation of thousands of government-funded child care spaces
Last month, the New Brunswick Government announced it will be funding 3,600 licensed child care spaces through its Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care action plan, funded primarily by the federal government.
The government says 2,031 of these spaces are now operational, and 1,569 will be operational by March 31, 2026.
A breakdown of spaces shows the geographical distribution, the age group (infant, preschool), and whether they are Anglophone or Francophone spaces. Overall,
- 329 of 686 infant spaces have opened
- 911 of 2,123 preschool spaces have opened
- 378 of 840 Francophone spaces have opened
- 862 of 1,969 Anglophone spaces have opened
Disappointingly, the province has not released a breakdown of the distribution of not-for-profit and for-profit spaces. This comes after the August 2024 Action Plan increased the allocation of for-profit spaces to 2,400, up from 1,745 allocated in the original Agreement.