More than 2 million Canadian children have benefited from the Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB) since it was launched in July 2006. This marks the third year that the Government of Canada has been providing choice in child care through the UCCB.

Lois Brown, Member of Parliament for Newmarket-Aurora, on behalf of the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, was joined by early childhood educators and children at Baldwin Preschool in Aurora  to celebrate the third anniversary of the UCCB and other Government of Canada measures that support families and children.

“Federal investments for early childhood development are at the highest level in Canadian history,” said MP Brown. “Through previous investments, including the UCCB and new measures introduced through the Economic Action Plan, the Government of Canada is more committed than ever to supporting families and children.”

The UCCB has provided additional choice and options for parents of young children added MP Brown, citing two examples from the riding.
"The Universal Child Care Tax Benefit has helped my family afford two sessions a week of early childhood education for our two preschoolers over the last couple of years", said Susan Gray of Newmarket. "As a part-time, self employed parent, I don’t require full time daycare services however, an opportunity for my children to have an early learning experience was important to me."

"An overlap in work hours between my husband and myself, along with assistance from our own parents, provided most of the child care coverage we needed given our work schedules,"  said Newmarket parent Nancy Davie. "Once our children are old enough to attend preschool, we send them 2 afternoons a week to a local child care centre so they can experience an early learning environment and have a chance to meet others their own age. The Universal Child Care Benefit is a factor in our ability to do so.”

The UCCB provides families with $100 a month for every child under the age of six. Since the launch of the UCCB three years ago, the Government of Canada has provided approximately $7.5 billion in direct funding to parents through the benefit. Currently, 1.5 million families receive the UCCB.

The UCCB is the first part of Canada’s Universal Child Care Plan, which helps families balance work and home responsibilities. The second part, introduced in Budget 2007, is the provision of an additional $250 million per year to the provinces and territories to create new child care spaces. In addition, a 25-percent investment tax credit is available for businesses that create new child care spaces in the workplace.

Since 2007, many provinces and territories have announced plans for new child care spaces—over 60,000 so far. Others are investing in enhancing the quality of their spaces, or making child care more affordable. The additional $250 million is on top of $850 million that the provinces and territories already receive through the Canada Social Transfer for children’s programs and services, for a total of $1.13 billion this year alone.

For more information and to subscribe to the Universal Child Care Plan electronic newsletter, please visit www.universalchildcare.ca.