Uncertainty looms regarding future of $25/day child care program

“We are extending the program for those 22 centres until June to ensure a smooth transition to childcare subsidies through the summer, as we work on a new bilateral funding agreement with the federal government,” Schulz wrote in a statement to CHAT News Wednesday afternoon. “Reviewing the data from the $25/day pilot program will help inform how we move forward with child care in Alberta.”

Schulz did not mentioned any additional funding past June in her statement.

The centres were part of the first phase of the program created by the NDP in 2017, to help ease the cost of child care for families.

Five of the centres were in Calgary, with another five in Edmonton. The remaining centres were in Lethbridge, Jasper, Banff and other communities.

A further 100 centres for the program were announced in 2018, including four in Medicine Hat.

Schulz confirmed those centres will continue to be funded through March of 2021, when the agreement ends.

Jennifer Usher, coordinator with the Medicine Hat and District Early Childhood Coalition, says she’s worried what will happen once the $25/day agreement expires next year, saying in addition to parents being impacted, care centres will also feel the effects if the program is not continued.

“Losing out on all of that additional financial support, the additional support for the consultants that have been coming in to help and just the support of the families as well,” she said.

Rakhi Pancholi, the Official opposition Critic for Children’s Services, says the decision from the province still leaves uncertainty for parents about the future of child care.

“These families are going to have to make a decision about whether or not they’re going to be able to continue to work, because in the absence of access to affordable child care, for many of these families, -and lets be clear, it’s often women-, are not going to be able to continue to work,” she said during a news conference in Edmonton.

Schulz says in a statement the province is “committed to working with all Early Learning and Childcare Centres to ensure the families most in need continue to be supported to access the workforce or pursue post-secondary education.”

Usher says she and other centres will be pushing the province to keep child care affordable.

“We’re looking at how can we provide quality early learning programs to families in a way that is really well supported, with well compensated educators at the helm, really providing these nurturing environments for young children,” she said.

by Charles Lefebvre

Uncertainty looms regarding future of $25/day child care program

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