[3] As governments work to create new child care centres by 2023 under the program, early childhood education workers are fleeing the profession in "droves".
[5]: x Early learning and child care were not specifically identified as provincial powers in 1867, along with hospitals, justice, marriage, and corporate affairs.
Especially since World War II, national social programs were developed in which the federal government led the initiative or collaborated with the provinces.
"[7]: 3 The report listed the most significant barriers that impeded the implementation of a national strategy for ELCC as "Canadian federalism, an unwillingness to allocate sufficient public funding, and the contested historical belief that publicly-funded child care should be treated as "welfare" rather than a universal entitlement.
"[7]: 3 According to the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU) 249-page annual report, "Early Childhood Education and Care in Canada 2019", which was partially funded by the federal government's Employment and Social Development Canada's (ESDC) Social Development Partnerships program, past attempts at advancing child care programs have been made in 1984, 1987, 1993, 2003, and 2005.
[8] He unsuccessfully attempted to pass Bill C-144, which would have "shifted federal-provincial responsibilities for daycare and allowed for direct funding of commercial day centers.
[14] When Stephen Harper won the 2006 Canadian federal election, the new government eliminated the bilateral agreements on child care as their first act of power.
[15] In 2008, Canada ranked at the bottom of the list of 25 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries based on benchmarks of ELCC delivery, according to an often-cited UNICEF 2008 early childhood education and care.
The federal government began negotiating Multilateral Early Learning and Child Care Framework agreement with provinces and territories in 2017.
These three-year bilateral agreements "set how much federal funding for early learning and child care would be allocated and spent by each jurisdiction.
Since 2006, as the "funding for public child care and expansion of spaces stagnated", the number of "large corporate-type, regional chain and single-owner" for-profit operations grew rapidly across Canada.
[20] By 2018, large corporate for-profit chains such as BrightPath,[Notes 1] Busy Bees, and Kids and Company were operating in some provinces in Canada.
[20] The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) has been publishing their survey of fees for full-time, regulated child care for infants, toddlers and preschoolers in 37 cities across Canada since 2014, highlighting the least and most affordable options.
[5]: xiii With closures caused by the pandemic, most of the regulated child care facilities were unable to pay their staff and were forced to lay off their employees.
The CRRU 2020 report said that, across "Canada and across sectors, for the first time, the essential and central nature of child care for the economy's full functioning became apparent to a much broader population".
As federal and provincial governments work to create new child-care spots by 2026 to achieve the five year goal of cutting daily child care fees to $10,[2] early childhood educators began leaving the profession in droves.
[4] Like many jobs that are gender biased, workers in early childhood education are underpaid and do not have pensions, paid sick days, or benefits.
[4] With the added strain of working harder to protect children in their care during the pandemic, workers who were not eligible for either sick days or priority vaccinations felt they were being "ignored" and "disrespected".
The Act sought to increase the participation of mothers in the labour force and improve school readiness, and enhance child development.
[26]: 5 Twenty years later, according to the testimony of Pierre Fortin, a Université du Québec à Montréal Emeritus Professor of Economics who appeared before the Standing Committee on the Status of Women (FEWO) of the House of Commons in March 2017, a "unanimous finding of the research literature is that [Québec]'s low-fee universal childcare system...has had a spectacular impact on child care utilization and the labour force participation of mothers of young children.
"[27] Fortin said that was a "marked increase in Québec women’s participation in the labour force" since the province's policy of subsidizing child care was enacted.
[16]: 7 As a result of the child care program, there was an increase in the rate of female participation in the labour force from the lowest to the highest in Canada.
[16]: 7 Catherine Haeck, a co-author of a 2015 study evaluating Québec's subsidized child care regime and universal preschool policies, acknowledged that ECEC research has to consider the impacts of provincial and federal programs in their conclusions.
[26]: 6 In a 2007 paper, in provinces that integrated benefits thereby providing labour market incentives, there was an estimated 33% "total decline in social assistance receipt between 1997 and 2000.
A Fraser Institute article, citing the 2015 evaluation, said that the policy "did not improve school readiness and may even have had negative impacts on children from low-income families.