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Child care policies were discussed at all levels, with emphasis on public influence.

Excerpt: "More recently provinces and territories have looked to their education systems to expand early childhood opportunities. Full day kindergarten for 5 year olds is now the norm. Three provinces are including 4 year olds in publicly-funded kindergarten and most provinces offer some preschool programming at least for vulnerable children (Akbari & McCuaig, 2014)."

Excerpt: "Budget 2015 continues to move Manitoba toward a truly universally accessible child-care system by: investing in 900 newly funded child-care spaces; supporting higher wages for child-care workers; and building and expanding child-care centres."

Excerpt: "Since 2004, the government has doubled child care funding to more than $1 billion annually. In 2013‒14, an estimated 447,472 children benefited from Ontario’s child care investments. In 2015, the Province is allocating an additional $44.5 million in child care funding through the funding formula, which will help stabilize fees, improve the reliability of child care, and better meet the needs of child care operators and parents — protecting the gains made through previously announced investments. As part of the Province’s commitment to increase child care spaces, Ontario is investing $120 million over three years in capital funding to create thousands more child care spaces in schools. This investment is another important step towards achieving the full vision of a seamless and integrated early years system in Ontario. It also represents an important component of the government’s commitment to community hubs."

As of April 2, 2015, all approved Child Day Care Facilities Inspection Reports will be available online.

Excerpt: "This year, we are investing $926 million in a wide range of initiatives, such as the continued implementation of our 10-year child care strategy, Caring For Our Future, as well as significant investments in our K-12 infrastructure. Caring For Our Future is now in its fourth year of implementation and has been tremendously successful in enhancing the quality, affordability and sufficiency of child care in our province. Since 2003, we have increased the number of regulated child care spaces by 70 per cent and we will continue to build on that momentum by investing an additional $3.2 million to continue the implementation of this strategy, bringing this year’s budget to $45.7 million."

Excerpt: "Over the next three years, $120 million in new funding will be dedicated to building safe, high quality, licensed child care spaces in schools across the province where there is significant demand. Schools boards in Ontario can apply now to the Ministry of Education for funding."

Excerpt: "New investments in early childhood development represent more than $3.5 million. Total funding allocated to the Early Childhood Development division totals $76.8 million. Of that amount, $23.6 million has been allocated to the Quality Improvement Financial Program to provide wage enhancement to educators working directly with children in regulated childcare facilities. The Preschool Autism Intervention Program has received $15.8 million. In addition, almost $10 million has been allocated to projects such as a new childcare registry, an early intervention program and new licensing technology."

Excerpt: "A typical two-earner family of four will receive tax relief and increased benefits of up to $6,600 in 2015, as a result of the Family Tax Cut, the Universal Child Care Benefit, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate reduction, the introduction of new credits, such as the Children’s Fitness Tax Credit, and broad-based income tax relief including the reduction in the lowest personal income tax rate (Chart 1.3)."

Excerpt: "Providing our youngest with a strong foundation: $1.3-million increase to reduce the wait lists for community-based Early Intervention; $700,000 increase for Early Learning Initiatives; $500,000 increase for four new SchoolsPlus sites. The additional $20.4 million invested this year will bring the total amount reinvested in our education system to $37.9 million. It’s all part of the four-year commitment to reinvest $65 million in education. A greater focus on Primary to 12 means better-prepared graduates ready for the workforce or post-secondary education."

Excerpt: "School will never be a replacement for a healthy home, but if the fundamental promise of our education system is to develop the “whole child”, then we cannot ignore students non-academic needs in school. To that end, we will be focusing specifically on assessing what resources our schools and our educators require to ensure that those needs can be met."

Heather Prime is among the Top 25 finalists in SSHRC's 2015 Storytellers challenge.