Cabinet puts child care lobby chief on statutory council advising Hajdu
The head of advocacy group Child Care Now, which held an agreement worth about $952,000 with the department the council advises, is among 13 people cabinet named to the new statutory child care advisory council.
Cabinet has appointed the executive director of a child care lobby group and the head of a federally funded child care federation to the new statutory council that advises the minister on the Canada-wide child care program.
Order in Council 2026-877 names Donald Giesbrecht full-time chairperson of the National Advisory Council on Early Learning and Child Care. Twelve further orders name the part-time members. All of them appear in the Appointments notice of the Canada Gazette, Part I, dated October 23 and published October 31.
A separate order, P.C. 2026-865 of September 25, turned the council from a ministerial body into a statutory one. Its explanatory note says 13 of the 15 inaugural members "have confirmed that they will continue to serve on the Council."
The government biography of member Morna Ballantyne says she "serves as the Executive Director of Child Care Now, Canada's national child care advocacy association."
Child Care Now calls itself "a proudly feminist organization dedicated to advancing social and economic equality for women" and says it advocates for "publicly funded and managed systems of child care." Its "Lobby Kit" for supporters says "We lobby politicians who support our vision to remind them of our presence and to offer assistance."
The federal grants register shows the group, under its legal name Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada, held a contribution agreement valued at about $952,000 with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), the department that supports the council, for a project running June 2023 to May 2026. It also held a Women and Gender Equality Canada agreement valued at about $648,000 for December 2020 to March 2024.
The government describes the chair, Giesbrecht, as "the CEO of the Canadian Child Care Federation (CCCF)." An ESDC backgrounder of October 11, 2022, lists a CCCF project, "Enable, Engage and Empower (E3)," at just over $1 million in federal funding.
The council "is not a decision-making body," according to its terms of reference, and advises ESDC "in support of the Minister of Jobs and Families," Liberal MP Patty Hajdu.
The Auditor General reported in October 2025 that, three years into a five-year plan, a little more than 112,000 new spaces had been created against a target of 250,000.
Elections Canada records show a Donald Giesbrecht of Winnipeg has repeatedly donated to the federal Liberal Party, while a Morna Ballantyne is a regular donor to the New Democratic Party.
Two of the 13 people now advising the minister lead organizations that appear in the department's own funding records.
Josh Phelps
Josh Phelps is a member of the Rebel News research team, working behind the scenes to investigate stories, verify facts, and support our journalists in bringing important news to light.
