The education minister is clarifying what he has described as a “mess” with the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care program.

Paul Dinn says the previous government signed on to that agreement with the goal of creating 5,895 spaces.

Dinn says all money was allocated and over 2,700 spaces were created, and his department is currently working on another 1,400.

However, he states that still means a shortfall of 1,700 spaces from what was originally targeted that have not been created yet.

Dinn has spoken with his federal and provincial counterparts and they are still trying to figure out a solution to the issue.

“So my frustration, my calling of the mess, is that we’ve signed on, the previous government signed on to an agreement that will not cover what they agreed to and further signed on to a five year extension that does nothing more to address it. So that’s the frustration I’m feeling and trying to do what we can for the children out there, the families that are still looking for childcare spaces.”