Thank you so much, Mr. Chair and committee, for having me to speak to Bill C‑35. As you mentioned, I've been here quite frequently recently, and it's always good to be back and spend time with my colleagues.
I am pleased to be accompanied today by the Director General of the Federal Secretariat on Early Learning and Child Care, Michelle Lattimore, the Director General of the Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Secretariat, Cheri Reddin, as well as Directors Jill Henry, Kelly Nares and Christian Paradis.
Working with provinces, territories and indigenous partners, the Government of Canada is transforming the way child care is delivered.
As has been said many times, child care is not a luxury; it is a necessity. Parents should have the opportunity to build both a family and a career, and children deserve the best possible start in life.
As part of Budget 2021, the Government of Canada made a transformative investment to help give them that start—up to $30 billion over five years to build a Canada-wide early learning and child care system.
Since that announcement, we have signed agreements with each province and territory to reduce fees everywhere outside of Quebec, support the creation of high-quality child care spaces, and ensure early childhood educators are better supported.
The Canada-wide system is already benefiting tens of thousands of families. Fees for regulated child care have been reduced in all jurisdictions outside of Quebec and the Yukon, which already had affordable child care systems. This system is a critical step toward our goal to see on average $10-a-day child care across Canada by March 2026.
To ensure the success of the system, we are also working hard with provinces and territories to create 250,000 new full-time regulated and primarily not-for-profit child care spaces by the end of March 2026, as well as to attract, train and retain the best early childhood educators.
We have put Bill C-35 before the House to ensure future generations of families across Canada can continue benefitting from this system.
The proposed legislation reinforces the government's commitment to support provinces, territories and indigenous partners in building a Canada-wide system. It will ensure that federal funding will be sustained; it promises accountability; and it further underscores our commitment to human rights conventions, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.
Bill C-35 is the result of comprehensive feedback from our partners and stakeholders. It is driven by shared interests, close partnerships and collaboration.
This proposed legislation respects provincial and territorial jurisdiction, and the vision and principles of both the 2017 multilateral early learning and child care framework that was developed with provinces and territories and the indigenous early learning and child care framework that was co-developed with indigenous partners.
With Bill C-35, provinces, territories, and Indigenous partners would benefit from the assurance of a sustained federal commitment to early learning and child care.
By enshrining our shared principles and vision into federal law, we would be building stability and predictability into the child care system.
Mr. Chair, our child care system is working everywhere in Canada, and more and more families are benefiting. This bill has been conceived to ensure that if it is passed as written, families will continue to benefit from these investments for generations to come.
Now we are pleased to answer your questions.
Thank you.