Rolling closures planned today in response to $10 a day child care deal

EDMONTON — The chair of the Association of Alberta Childcare Entrepreneurs says daycare operators are planning to start a series of “rolling closures” today.

Krystal Churcher says it’s to draw attention to the problems that come with offering parents low-cost child care without ensuring the cost of delivery is still covered.

Operators in multiple provinces are threatening to pull out of the national child-care system or even close their doors, saying federal-provincial agreements for affordable daycare funding limit the fees they can charge while not providing enough support to cover all their costs.

Federal Families Minister Jenna Sudds says provinces and territories signed $10-a-day child care agreements with the federal government with their “eyes wide open,” and Ottawa now expects them to make the program work.