Public talk by Morna Ballantyne, Executive Director of Child Care Now, at the Child Care Coalition of Manitoba’s Annual General Meeting, April 15, 2026 in Winnipeg.
In November 2014, close to 700 conference delegates gathered in Winnipeg to set an updated vision for universal child care in Canada.
The main conference discussion paper began by painting a picture of what the future could be.
“It’s a May morning in 2020,” the paper began.
“High-quality early childhood education and child care has become a reality for most children and families across Canada’s six time zones.”
“On Fogo Island, Newfoundland Labrador, a nutritious lunch is being served to toddlers at a new early childhood centre in the school.”
“In small-town Lac-Etchemin, Quebec—and suburban Markham, Ontario—home child care providers arrive at early childhood hubs to meet with their networks, while children enjoy outdoor activities.”
“In Winnipeg, a stay-at-home parent with a new baby arrives at a nursery school with her three-year-old daughter. And at Haida Gwaii’s Skidegate Children’s Centre, an educator greets First Nations parents and children as they arrive.”
“ECEC programs in each of these communities have unique features, but they share common characteristics. Although there are still waiting lists, parents across Canada know that a space will be available before too long.”
“Substantial expansion means that all parents—whether or not they are in the paid workforce—can find a space.”
“Under a Canada-wide policy framework, provinces, territories, and Indigenous communities receive federal funds.”
“With provincially set parent fees and salary scales, and collaboration between governments and school boards, the child care system is more publicly managed.”
“The days when parents and volunteers had to fundraise to keep programs afloat are over.”
This vision—of a universal, publicly funded child care system—was unanimously adopted on the final day of that conference more than ten years ago.
It stood in stark contrast to the reality at the time.
For decades, child care in Canada had been developed in patchwork fashion—shaped by uneven policies and inconsistent funding.
There were some advances.
Quebec built a community-based, not-for-profit system giving families access to low-fee child care.
Ontario rapidly expanded free full-day kindergarten for all four- and five-year olds, often with wrap-around or seamless day child care.
Manitoba and PEI improved funding approaches.
Municipalities innovated—Vancouver used development charges and other mechanisms to include child care in new buildings. The city didn’t directly operate the programs but it helped create a non-profit child care organization for that purpose.
Governments introduced wage enhancement programs, and some made positive improvements to parent fee subsidies.
But these were partial solutions.
They addressed pieces of the problem.
They did not transform the system.
The 2014 conference was convened to ignite a coordinated effort for much bigger change.
The next federal election was a year away. But we knew a new federal government alone would not deliver a new system.
We needed to build consensus among child care advocates across the country on what we wanted, and a strategy for getting it.
We understood something important:
We needed alignment.
We needed consensus.
We needed a movement.
Looking back, much of our vision was reflected in the Canada-wide early learning and child care program introduced by the Trudeau government 7 years later.
The federal budget of 2021 framed child care as essential infrastructure—central to economic recovery and women’s labour force participation. At the same time, it was recognized as essential to children’s well-being, to reducing poverty, and to advancing equity.
The 2021 federal budget made a bold commitment: to transform child care through public investment, public policy, and public management, on a scale comparable to public education and public health care.
That matters.
Because those systems were not built overnight.
They were built deliberately—through public leadership, sustained investment and pressure from advocates.
The CWELCC plan, as first announced in 2021, represented the kind of change child care advocates wanted.
It shifted child care from primarily private to primarily public funding.
It included distinctions-based Indigenous child care funding.
It strengthened government’s role in system management.
It prioritized not-for-profit expansion.
And it set universality and inclusion as primary goals.
This was—and is—a transformational vision.
But implementation has been uneven. And it has been contested.
There has been organized opposition—from the for-profit sector, from right-wing think tanks, and from some provincial governments.
And yet—every province and territory remains signed-on.
And progress over the past five years has been real.
Fees are down to an average of $10 a day or lower in 6 jurisdictions, including Manitoba.
Operational funding models are being developed.
Wages have improved—though not enough. And where wage grids exist, they have been imposed—not negotiated.
We have also seen innovation.
Nova Scotia introduced a province-wide defined benefit pension plan and benefits—improving retention in the sector.
Supply of licensed child care has increased.
Coverage rates have improved across Canada.
In some regions—including in the North—the gains have been dramatic.
But the challenges are serious.
Funding is insufficient.
Non-profit operators are under strain.
Spaces remain scarce—and inequally distributed.
Workforce shortages persist.
And there are growing concerns about quality.
Planning has been inadequate.
Public management has been weak.
In Manitoba, the Auditor General found that the target of 23,000 new spaces will be delayed by 7 to 9 years—due to gaps in planning, tracking, and accountability.
These are not minor issues.
They go to the heart of whether this system succeeds.
Critics argue that these challenges prove that a publicly funded, not-for-profit system cannot work.
But we know better.
We know that you cannot have universal access, inclusion, quality, and decent working conditions—without public funding, strong management, and a commitment to non-profit delivery.
Those elements are not optional.
They are foundational.
At the same time, we cannot ignore the problems.
We must confront them—clearly and directly.
And we must agree how to fix them.
Because this is a pivotal moment.
There are signs that governments are stepping back—from the original vision and from its core principles.
When ministers met in Ottawa earlier this year, the focus was “sustainability.”
And when governments talk about sustainability, they are often talking about cost.
There is a growing awareness—especially federally—of how much money must be invested to treat child care as a universal public service, and to improve the quality of programs.
And with that awareness comes hesitation.
Some governments are considering scaling back.
Some are delaying reforms.
Some are looking to shift costs back onto families—through higher fees, by introducing fee schedules based on family income, through supplementary charges, and various forms of private financing.
Some want to increase for-profit supply falsely claiming that this would ease public spending on child care.
We are already seeing this happen.
So, we need to be clear about where we are.
We are at a turning point.
Every decision—by governments, and by us—will shape what comes next.
And this is not the time for division.
Differences among advocates—on policy or strategy—can weaken the entire project.
We need to hold together the coalition that was built in 2014.
Broad. Diverse. Aligned.
We also need to strengthen our case.
Governments are focused on economic resilience.
We need to show—clearly and convincingly—that child care is not a cost pressure.
It is an economic driver.
In the short term.
In the medium term.
And in the long term.
And we need to be just as clear about solutions.
One of the most urgent priorities is accelerating not-for-profit expansion.
Over the past three years, Child Care Now has studied what is happening on the ground.
We travelled across six provinces and to Nunavut.
We spoke with operators, educators, advocates, and government officials.
We analyzed growth data, capital funding, and operating models.
And the findings were consistent.
Governments are relying on an under-resourced non-profit sector to drive non-profit expansion.
Some are actively encouraging for-profit expansion, some are allowing it to happen.
Everywhere in Canada, Capital funding for non-profit growth is insufficient.
Planning and coordination are limited.
Workforce shortages are constraining growth.
Connections between housing and child care are weak so opportunities to build affordable housing with affordable child care are being missed.
Public child care remains too scarce. Publicly owned and operated child care programs could be built faster, if governments were serious about putting public resources and know-how to projects. Public child care programs are easier to staff because wages are better. Where child care is integrated into schools and other public infrastructure, expansion is more efficient.
Child Care Now is finalizing recommendations rooted in our investigation.
But we know what direction Canada should be going in.
We need stronger government intervention.
We need better public planning, and we need government-supported mechanisms to get programs built and operational much faster than has happened so far.
And we need much greater involvement from municipalities and school authorities.
If child care is a public good, it must be treated like one.
Funded like one.
Managed like one.
Just like public education.
Every province and territory already knows how to do this.
What is required now is political will.
The benefits are clear.
Over time, every child can be included.
The economic penalties faced by mothers will be reduced.
Public investments will be recouped—through higher tax revenues and lower social costs.
This is not just social policy.
It is nation-building.
We have done something extraordinary together before—and we can do it again.
We built the vision.
We built the consensus.
We helped make child care a national project.
Now we are being tested.
Will we defend it?
Will we strengthen it?
Will we insist that it delivers—for everyone?
Because this is not just about child care.
It is about fairness.
It is about equality.
It is about the kind of country we choose to be.
So let’s stay united, determined, and be clear:
No scaling back.
Instead, scale up what works.
