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In 1997, the Québec government announced its new family policy. The government undertook a massive reorganization of the child care system and transformed it into the early childhood care and education component of the new family policy. The reform was indeed substantial and ambitious and was undertaken at a time when, as in other provinces, the government was trying to reduce its budgetary deficit to zero. As the reform enters its fifth year, the author reviews the first five years and examines the successes, challenges and lessons learned.

This BRIEFing NOTE is a chart displaying Ontario government expenditures on child care from 1942 to the present. An internal Ontario government policy paper leaked to the Toronto Star in November 2001 sets out the removal of $200 million from the provincial budget for regulated child care (currently approximately $470 million which includes funding for regulated child care and family resource programs).

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