Excerpt: "The Manitoba government is increasing wages for early childhood educators (ECE), with funding from the Canada-Manitoba Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. The increase will be applied to all ECEs and is the biggest increase in Manitoba history, federal Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu and Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Tracy Schmidt announced today. 鈥淚n order to provide families in Canada with high-quality, affordable child care, we need to support the early childhood education workforce with better compensation,鈥 said Hajdu. 鈥淒evelopment that happens in early childhood plays a big role in future learning, so it鈥檚 important to keep highly trained, qualified people in this field and also attract future educators who want to build safe and inclusive spaces where all children are welcomed, accepted, and nurtured.鈥 The wage grid sets target wages for various positions within the early learning and child-care sector. This year鈥檚 wage grid focuses on frontline early childhood educators wages, for an increase of up to $5 an hour depending on certification level and the size of the child-care centre. The new wage grid will take effect retroactively to April 1."