Manitoba, feds announce $180M for more child care spaces

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The Manitoba and Canadian governments announced a $180 million package to add more licensed child-care spaces in the province on Thursday.

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The funding provided under the deal between the province and the federal government will add more than 3,700 licensed and funded infant, preschool and school-age spaces through expansion projects at public schools and post-secondary institutions.

“With these additional spaces, families who have older children attending a local school or who are currently enrolled in training to enter the workforce at one of our post-secondary institutions will have more options to support their child-care needs,” said Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Wayne Ewasko in a news release.

The deal allocates $132 million for 36 public schools to create more than 2,400 spaces for children under seven. To accommodate the changes, six room conversions, two building additions and 28 stand-alone facilities are being proposed. Another $45 million has been earmarked for 680 new spaces for children under seven at six post-secondary institutions, which will involve two additions and five stand-alone facilities.

The Manitoba government is spending $3.4 million to create 60 school-age spaces at Université de Saint-Boniface and 555 spaces in 25 public schools for children aged seven to 12.

The Canadian government has committed to creating 250,000 new child-care spaces across the country by March 2026, federal Families, Children and Social Development Minister Karina Gould said. Manitoba is expected to have 23,000 new full-time child-care spaces by that time.

The province and feds also announced $3.5 million to build seven new learning labs at six post-secondary sites for early learning and child-care training.

rstelter@postmedia.com