Program directory · Employment and Social Development Canada
Early Learning and Child Care
- Department
- Employment and Social Development Canada
- Program code
- BGM05 (HRSD)
- Core responsibility
- Social Development
- In Departmental Plans
- 2018-19 – 2026-27 · New since an earlier plan
What it does
Employment and Social Development Canada works with provinces, territories and Indigenous partners building a Canada-wide, community-based system of affordable, inclusive and high-quality early learning and child care (ELCC).
The ELCC program provides funding (transfer payments) to provinces and territories (P/Ts) to support regulated ELCC programs and services consistent with the principles and objectives of the Canada-wide system.
ESDC also provides funding to organizations for projects that explore, test and develop new innovative approaches to improve the quality, accessibility, affordability, flexibility and inclusivity of ELCC programs and services across Canada.
Source: the department's Program Inventory, via GC InfoBase.
History and lineage
First appears in GC InfoBase's actual spending by program in 2018-19. The data does not record when a program was created; it may be older than its first appearance here, which is limited by the sources (program spending starts in 2010-11, Departmental Plans in 2018-19).
| Program | Relation | Years with data | Actual spending over those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early Learning and Child Care | This program | 2018-19 – 2028-29 | $23.5B |
No earlier or later program in the same department has a similar name.
Significant changes in scope and budget
Detected from the data: renames between plans, programs it appears to replace, merge with or split into (matched by name), year-over-year changes in spending of at least 25% and $5M, or in employees of at least 20% and 25 FTEs, linked budget measures, and results indicators added or dropped.
| Year | What changed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | Indicators dropped: Number of children receiving subsidies or other financial supports | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2019-20 | Renamed from “Early Learning and Childcare” to “Early Learning and Child Care”. | GC InfoBase program names by year |
| 2020-21 | Indicators added: Number of children in regulated child care spaces and/or early learning programs and number of children receiving subsidies or other financial supports | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2020-21 | Indicators dropped: Number of children in regulated child care spaces and/or early learning programs | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2021-22 | Spending $3.6B, against $400M in 2020-21 (+800%). | Actual spending (GC InfoBase) |
| 2022-23 | Employees (FTEs) 78, against 4 in 2021-22 (+1850%). | FTEs (GC InfoBase) |
| 2022-23 | Spending $5.22B, against $3.6B in 2021-22 (+45%). | Actual spending (GC InfoBase) |
| 2023-24 | Indicators added: Average child care fees for regulated early learning and child care spaces | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2023-24 | Indicators dropped: Number of children in regulated child care spaces and/or early learning programs and number of children receiving subsidies or other financial supports | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2024-25 | Employees (FTEs) 115, against 73 in 2023-24 (+58%). | FTEs (GC InfoBase) |
| 2025 | Budget 2025 measure “Extending Early Learning and Child Care Agreements”: $1,535M in total over its years (linked to this program by name, a best-effort match). | Budget 2025, PDF page 283 |
| 2025-26 | Planned employees (FTEs) 66, against 115 in 2024-25 (−43%). | FTEs (GC InfoBase) |
Success criteria
The program's indicators from its department's Departmental Results Framework: the target set in each year's plan, and the result reported the following year. Source: GC InfoBase.
Historical: targets against results
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | To be determined. | 2021 | Not available The 2019-20 and 2020-21 results are not available yet. Compilation of results across the country are based on annual reports provided by PTs in the fall of the following fiscal year. Due to the pandemic, delays have been encountered in the preparation of these reports. However, the result for 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 combined is 40,116 spaces created. | No result reported |
| 2021-22 | 40,000 | 2022 | 40,116 By March 2019, 40,116 more affordable child care spaces were created. Results for fiscal years 2019 to 2020, 2020 to 2021, and 2021 to 2022 are not available yet. Compilation of results across the country are based on annual reports provided by provinces and territories in the Fall of the following fiscal year. Due to the pandemic, delays have been encountered in the preparation of these reports. | Met |
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | — | 2020 | — Results are provided by provinces and territories in the Fall of each year for the preceding year, therefore results for 2019-20 are not available at the time of the production of the report. A target was not set for one fiscal year, but for the length of the bilateral agreement, i.e. up to 40,000 more affordable child care spaces. The March 2020 target was largely achieved through the bilateral… | No result reported |
Current: the 2026-27 plan's targets
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | Average fee of $10-a-day | 2026 | — | Planned |
Future goals: targets due after 2026-27
No targets with a later due date.
Spending and employees: planned against actual
Spending
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | $417M | $404M |
| 2019-20 | $410M | $401M |
| 2020-21 | $420M | $400M |
| 2021-22 | $20.1M | $3.6B |
| 2022-23 | $5.05B | $5.22B |
| 2023-24 | $6.14B | $6.21B |
| 2024-25 | $7.26B | $7.25B |
| 2025-26 | $8.54B | — |
| 2026-27 | $9.28B | — |
| 2027-28 | $8.64B* | — |
| 2028-29 | $8.88B* | — |
Employees (FTEs)
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | 5 | 4 |
| 2019-20 | 5 | 5 |
| 2020-21 | 20 | 4 |
| 2021-22 | 17 | 4 |
| 2022-23 | 84 | 78 |
| 2023-24 | 84 | 73 |
| 2024-25 | 96 | 115 |
| 2025-26 | 66 | — |
| 2026-27 | 55 | — |
| 2027-28 | 55* | — |
| 2028-29 | 46* | — |
Planned spending, plan by plan
Each row is one year's Departmental Plan and its forecast for the next three fiscal years; read a column down to see how the forecast for one year changed. The last row is what was actually spent. Click an amount for its source. Biggest changes in federal spending plans
| Plan | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | 2027-28 | 2028-29 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 plan | $416,916,802 | $410,216,804 | $100,000 | ||||||||
| 2019-20 plan | $410,217,249 | $100,000 | $40,000 | ||||||||
| 2020-21 plan | $419,928,109 | $20,082,106 | $20,065,209 | ||||||||
| 2021-22 plan | $20,113,319 | $20,097,826 | $20,097,826 | ||||||||
| 2022-23 plan | $5,045,120,442 | $6,134,929,203 | $7,086,725,331 | ||||||||
| 2023-24 plan | $6,141,868,070 | $7,091,236,993 | $7,743,917,403 | ||||||||
| 2024-25 plan | $7,259,747,878 | $8,539,764,238 | $8,606,746,517 | ||||||||
| 2025-26 plan | $8,539,008,382 | $8,605,996,012 | $8,649,770,803 | ||||||||
| 2026-27 plan | $9,284,298,318 | $8,635,062,809 | $8,880,801,334 | ||||||||
| Actual | $404,366,901 | $401,019,035 | $399,597,912 | $3,595,331,267 | $5,215,220,149 | $6,209,046,773 | $7,251,269,495 |
Actual spending is from Departmental Results Reports and the Public Accounts, as published in GC InfoBase. FTEs are full-time equivalents.
