The federal government has been quietly probing how to provide provinces with more money annually for child care.
Sources describe the issue as being at, or near, the top of the Liberal agenda to restart the economy.
Social Development Minister Ahmed Hussen has spent the past two weeks making phone calls to experts in the field, asking about how federal spending on child care can be better targeted.
Hussen has asked about the risks the sector faces through the pandemic shutdown and issues that need to be addressed to help centres reopen.
At the same time, the agenda for a group of deputy ministers has in recent days included child-care funding and social infrastructure, hoping to capitalize on the goodwill between the federal and provincial governments during the pandemic.
Statistics Canada says more than three million Canadians are out of work, and 2.5 million more have had their hours slashed because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Child-care centres and services have closed for all but essential workers.