Families, Children and Social Development Minister Karina Gould stands during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Monday, Oct. 17, 2022. Families Minister Karina Gould is expected to introduce legislation today to strengthen child care in Canada, which is likely to include an effort to secure a long-term role for Ottawa in the new national daycare system. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
OTTAWA – Families Minister Karina Gould introduced legislation today to strengthen child care in Canada in an effort to secure a long-term role for Ottawa in the new national daycare system.
The Liberal government brought in a national child-care plan that would cut daycare fees by an average of 50 per cent by the end of this year – and down to an average of $10 per day by 2026.
The bill sets out the federal government’s commitment to long-term funding for provinces and Indigenous Peoples, and the principles that will guide those funds.
Enshrining the role of the federal government in the national child-care system could be one way to make it harder to dismantle should another party win the next election.
Government officials, who briefed the media on the condition they not be named, say the bill was drafted to respect provincial and territorial jurisdiction and Indigenous rights and does not impose conditions on other levels of government.
The Liberals had promised to introduce the legislation by the end of this year in the confidence-and-supply agreement that would see the New Democrats support the minority government through to 2025.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 8, 2022.
