Linda A. White Susan Prentice Early childhood education and care reform in Canadian provinces: Understanding the role of experts and evidence in policy change Abstract: In over half of Canada’s provinces, a recent commission has recommended major reform of ECEC systems; in response, provincial governments in nearly all cases have chosen to implement full-day kindergarten funded by the province and delivered through public schools. We analyze the commission processes that led to changes to investigate the relationship between experts, policy makers, and policy outcomes. Our analysis of processes in BC, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, and PEI leads us to conclude that governments rarely fully implement the programs supported by the evidence base and recommended by their own experts. Instead, recent policy changes have been driven by a highly selective and path- dependent approach to the complex issue of early childhood care and education. Sommaire : Recemment, des commissions ont recommande une reforme de fond des syste`mes de protection et d’education de la petite enfance dans plus de la moitie des provinces du Canada. Dans presque tous les cas, les gouvernements ont choisi de mettre en œuvre le programme de maternelle a plein temps, finance par les provinces et execute par le biais des ecoles publiques. Nous analysons les rapports et processus des commissions en C.-B., Alberta, Ontario, Quebec et ^ I-du-P.-  E., qui ont etudie ces syste`mes, ainsi que les relations entre experts, decideurs de politiques et les resultats des politiques. Notre analyse nous permet de conclure que les gouvernements mettent rarement en œuvre les programmes reposant sur des donnees scientifiques et qui sont recommandes par leurs propres experts. Par contre, de recentes modifications concernant les politiques ont ete dictees par une approche fortement ciblee et dependante du chemin parcouru eu egard a cette question complexe. Numerous advanced industrialized countries have recently introduced or expanded policies to support the employment of parents of young children. The biggest policy investors have traditionally been the Scandinavian Linda White is Interim Director, School of Public Policy and Governance, and Associate Pro- fessor, SPPG and Department of Political Science, University of Toronto. Susan Prentice is Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Manitoba. Financial support for this research was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada grants # 410-2008-0630 and #410-2010-1906. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the research assistance of Katherine Jin. CANADIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION / ADMINISTRATION PUBLIQUE DU CANADA VOLUME 59, NO. 1 (MARCH/MARS 2016), PP. 26–44 VC The Institute of Public Administration of Canada/L’Institut d’administration publique du Canada 2016