Preface

In support of two federal/provincial/territorial initiatives focused on young children, the Early Childhood Development Agreement (September 2000) and the Multilateral Framework on Early Learning and Child Care (March 2003), the Government of Canada provides annual cash transfers to the provinces and territories to support their investments in early childhood development and early learning and child care programs and services.¹

The objectives of the Early Childhood Development (ECD) Agreement are to help Canada’s children reach their potential and to help families support their young children in strong communities by improving and expanding programs and services. The Multilateral Framework on Early Learning and Child Care builds on that agreement to promote early childhood development and support the participation of parents in employment or training by improving access to affordable, quality early learning and child care programs and services.

All governments participating in these two initiatives have committed to report publicly on their investments for Canada’s children under 6 and their families. Regular reporting allows Canadians to monitor progress in improving and expanding programs and services for young children and their families.

The two reports in this publication deliver on the Government of Canada’s commitment to report to Canadians on federal activities and expenditures related to early childhood development (Section I) and early learning and child care (Section II) for 2004–2005 and 2005-2006. The activities and expenditures reported are for children living in Canada; they do not include activities and expenditures resulting from transfers to provincial and territorial governments or federal investments in international programs and aid to help young children and their families in other countries.

As part of the ECD Agreement, governments also agreed to report regularly on the well-being of children, using a common set of agreed-upon indicators. As a complement to the information in this publication, the Government of Canada has released The Well-Being of Canada’s Young Children: Government of Canada Report 2006, which is available online in the Early Childhood Development/Government of Canada section at www.ecd-elcc.ca.  That report is the third in a series of federal reports describing the development of Canada’s young children and the families and communities in which they are growing up.

In 2006, the federal government introduced Canada’s Universal Child Care Plan, which consists of two key elements designed to help families balance work and family life as they see fit, regardless of where they live or their child care preferences. These elements include direct financial support to parents and support for the creation of child care spaces.

Since July 2006, through the Universal Child Care Benefit, families have been receiving $100 per month – up to $1,200 a year – for each child under the age of six to help them offset the costs of whatever type of child care they use. In total, the Universal Child Care Benefit provides more than $2.4 billion each year to 1.5 million families for 2 million young children.

Recognizing that the availability of child care spaces is a challenge faced by many Canadian parents, Budget 2007 proposed two new measures to support the creation of child care spaces. First, the government has committed to provide an additional $250 million per year to the provinces and territories to support the creation of child care spaces that are responsive to the needs of parents and administered in an efficient and accountable manner. Second, to support businesses interested in creating child care spaces for their employees, a non-refundable tax credit valued at 25% of eligible expenses to a maximum of $10,000 per spaces is proposed.

As the Universal Child Care Plan came into effect after April 1, 2006, additional information will be available in the 2006-2007 Government of Canada’s activities and expenditures report.

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