The provincial and federal governments have combined to bring more than 5300 new child-care spaces to Manitoba since October 2023, with another 6,041 committed to, Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Tracy Schmidt and federal Secretary of State for Children and Youth, Anna Gainey announced today.
“More public child-care spaces are good for families and for our economy. It’s a strong start for kids and a big boost to parents – particularly women – looking to go back to work,” said Schmidt. “But increasing child-care spots is about more than bricks and mortar, it’s about people. Our new recruitment strategy offers good jobs with fair wages and competitive benefits, and brings workers who have left the sector back in with a new incentive program.”
“In partnership with the Manitoba government, Canada’s new government is creating thousands of new affordable child-care spaces in the province over the coming years,” said Gainey. “Our investment expands access for Manitoba parents to take advantage of more affordable child care and for children to get the best start in life.”
Part of the announcement today was a pledge to retain more childcare workers, without whom, the province said in their release, adding more childcare spaces wouldn’t be possible. Part of this strategy is the early childhood educators (ECE) recruit-back incentive. Its goal is to recruit child-care professionals who have left the field with a $5,000 incentive for ECE II and IIIs who have not worked in a Manitoba licensed child-care centre or licensed home-based child-care setting for at least two consecutive years to return to full-time employment.
According to the release, funding for these initiatives and the new child-care spaces is jointly supported through provincial and federal investments under the Canada-Manitoba Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement.
