Coming deal on national child care will compel provinces to expand services
OTTAWA — Provinces won’t be able to use federal child-care funding to subsidize their own programs under the terms of a national framework set to be unveiled in the coming days.
Instead, the Trudeau government wants provinces and territories to use the money for regulated operations geared specifically for families in need — low income, indigenous, single-parent, or in under-served areas — and children under six.
The broad strokes of the agreement are contained in a Manitoba cabinet order recently posted online.
The order says the government has told provinces they must use the funding to “build on” —”not replace or displace” — existing spending in regulated child care.