EXCERPTS
On Friday, August 13th the Minister of Education, Dustin Duncan, was joined by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland, and the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Ahmed Hussen, to announce the signing of the agreements for the ELCC workforce funds and the historic and transformational system building agreement committed to affordable, inclusive, and high quality early learning. I was honoured to be invited to the press conference and had an opportunity to share remarks alongside these political leaders. To see the full conference please click here.
While there were no official consultations for the composition of these agreements it is evident that the meetings SECA frequently has with multiple levels of government (i.e., Minister of Education, Early Years Branch, Human Services Committee) have been beneficial and suggestions we discussed were considered in the negotiations of these agreements. These initial agreements are typically negotiated by higher levels of government. The implementation details will be in the action plans for these agreements.
More details will be announced regarding these agreements but major targets include: reducing parent fees by an average of 50% by the end of next year, reducing parent fees to an average of $10.00/day by the end 2025/2026, creating 28,000 new spaces by 2025/2028, and providing a wage enhancement of up to $3.00/hour to Early Childhood Educators. I will share more information with you as they become available.
I would like to thank all of our members for your support and for engaging in conversation (whether that be one on one or in group meetings) or data collection in any form.
Georgia Lavallee
Executive Director