The Manitoba government, in partnership with the federal government, has announced a significant funding increase for licensed and funded child-care facilities in the province. The funding is aimed at supporting wages for child-care professionals, announced federal Families, Children and Social Development Minister Jenna Sudds and Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Nello Altomare today.
“We cannot build a Canada-wide early learning and child-care system without the dedicated and hard-working early childhood workforce,” said Minister Sudds. “This investment strengthens our commitment to both our children and their caregivers.”
The funding increase, which will be implemented from July 1, 2024, will see wages rise by 2.75%, amounting to an additional funding contribution of $10.9 million. Of this, $10.3 million will come from the federal government and $600,000 from the Manitoba government.
Minister Altomare emphasized the importance of investing in child-care professionals. “This wage increase, as well as more than doubling the operating grant funding per cent increase from last year, will enable child-care facilities to offer fair, consistent and competitive wages,” he said.
The wage grid, a key initiative of Manitoba’s child-care workforce strategy, is set to improve recruitment and retention efforts for a qualified child-care workforce. This supports the target to expand the child-care system by 23,000 spaces by 2026.
In addition to the wage increase, base operating grants for all licensed and provincially funded child-care facilities have been increased by five per cent. This amounts to an additional contribution of $8.97 million, with $2.55 million provided by Canada and $6.42 million provided by Manitoba, effective April 1. This increase will further support wages and help facilities address other cost pressures including rent, programming and food costs.
The funding increases are provided through the Canada-Manitoba Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, signed in August 2021. Under this agreement, Manitoba will receive $1.2 billion in federal funding over five years to reduce the average out-of-pocket parent fees for licensed child care to $10-a-day and to expand access to more high-quality, inclusive child-care spaces for children under the age of seven.
The province is also conducting a comprehensive review of the wage and benefits framework for the early learning and child-care workforce under the agreement. This review aims to develop an approach that enhances recruitment and retention efforts now and into the future. Consultations with the sector are underway and the review is expected to be completed in 2025.
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