No. ............ DATE: May 31, 2017 ORDER IN COUNCIL NO.: 00145 / 2017 RECOMMENDED BY: Minister of Families ORDER 1. The Lieutenant Governor in Council hereby authorizes the Minister of Families to enter into the Multilateral Early Learning and Child Care Framework Agreement between the Government of Canada and the governments of the other provinces and territories of Canada, as the basis for entering negotiations for an early learning and child care bilateral funding agreement between Canada and Manitoba. 2. This Order comes into effect the date it is made. AUTHORITY The Community Child Care Standards Act, C.C.S.M. c. C158, states: Agreements 37 With the approval of the Lieutenant Governor in Council, the minister may enter into agreements with the Government of Canada respecting the establishment of facilities or contributions to the cost of operating facilities or providing child care. The Executive Government Organization Act, C.C.S.M. c. E170, states: Agreements with other authorities 16 The Lieutenant Governor in Council may authorize a minister, for and on behalf of the government, or an agency of the government, to enter into an agreement with (a) the Government of Canada, or a minister or agency of the Government of Canada; or (b) the government of another province of Canada, or a minister or agency of the government of another province of Canada; or (c) a municipality, school district, school division, or other local authority; or (d) any person or group of persons; No. ............ for the benefit or purposes of the residents of Manitoba or any part thereof. BACKGROUND 1. The Multilateral Early Learning and Child Care Framework sets out a long term vision, guiding principles, and a commitment by the Government of Canada (GOC) for long-term investments in provincial/territorial (PT) early learning and child care (ELCC) systems. The GOC has proposed federal-provincial/territorial Ministers responsible for ELCC meet on June 12, 2017 in Ottawa (date and location to be confirmed) to sign the Framework. 2. The GOC has committed $400 million in federal investments to PTs in 2017/18, and $7 billion over 10 years starting in 2018/19. Manitoba’s share of the federal investment over the next three years will be $15,589,268 in 2017/18; $15,577,558* in 2018/19; and $15,577,558* in 2019/20 (*reduction prorated for overhead costs). 3. The Multilateral Framework Agreement will be complemented by a series of companion bilateral funding agreements/Action Plans between individual PT governments and the GOC. The first bilateral agreements will span three years (2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20). 4. The Multilateral Framework recognizes that PTs have the primary responsibility for the design and delivery of ELCC programs and services and may determine their early learning and child care investment priorities. 5. As a ‘Chapeau’ agreement, the Multilateral Framework requires: o All governments to work together to increase quality, accessible, affordable, flexible and inclusivity in ELCC systems; o PTs to use GOC funding to build on (not replace or displace) existing PT investments in regulated ELCC for children under the age of six. PTs are not required to match federal ELCC investments in order to access federal dollars under the Agreement; o PT governments to report annually to Canadians on progress made in relation to quality and outcome measures in the Framework. 6. The Multilateral Framework also requires that companion bilateral agreements and PT Action Plans: o identify the investments each jurisdiction will make with federal funding during the course of the bilateral agreement and identify how the proposed investment initiatives align with the principles of the Framework; o focus on local, regional and system priorities that impact families more in need, such as lower-income families; Indigenous families; lone-parent families; families in underserved communities; those working nonstandard hours; and/or families with children with varying abilities; o identify the progress indicators and outcome measures that PTs will annually and publically report on; o result in concrete, incremental improvements to PT ELCC systems; o be made available to the public on the Government of Canada website.