2023 August 21

Investing in workers delivers results. That’s the story we see play out again and again across the country. As we make progress toward delivering $10-a-day child care for families on Prince Edward Island, we’re also improving the system and making it more accessible. That’s how we make life more affordable, create good, middle-class jobs, grow the economy, and give every child the best possible start in life.

The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

Delivering $10-a-day child care for families right across the country is a key part of making life more affordable while creating good jobs and growing our economy by helping parents rejoin the workforce.

The Government of Canada’s plan has already cut child care fees in half for families on Prince Edward Island (PEI) to an average of $20-a-day. As we keep making progress toward $10-a-day child care on the Island, we are investing to improve child care and make it more accessible for more families.

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, was joined today by the Premier of Prince Edward Island, Dennis King, as well as Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Jenna Sudds, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lawrence MacAulay, and PEI’s Minister of Education and Early Years, Natalie Jameson, to announce investments to create more spaces and support early childhood educators on PEI.

Over the next 18 months, PEI will create more than 300 new licensed child care spaces in the province’s Early Years Centres. This expansion means the province is now expected to create at least 530 spaces by March 31, 2026.

Early childhood educators are the cornerstone of our early learning and child care system. PEI will use federal funding to support wage increases for early childhood educators in Early Years Centres starting on October 1, 2023. Wage increases are key to the recruitment and retention of a qualified workforce and the further expansion of child care services in the province. PEI will also invest $1.18 million annually to develop, implement, and manage a defined-contribution pension plan for employees of Early Years Centres, which will help the early learning and child care sector retain qualified, experienced employees and boost recruitment efforts.

In addition to building a Canada-wide early learning and child care system, we are delivering support through key programs like the Canada Child Benefit, which provides families up to $7,437 per child under the age of six and $6,275 per child aged six through 17 this year. The Government of Canada is working to make life more affordable for families, while also creating good jobs and growing the economy.