Alberta announces $10-a-day child-care deal with federal government

Alberta has become the latest province to sign on to a $10-a-day federal universal child-care program.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Alberta Premier Jason Kenney made the joint announcement in Edmonton.

With Alberta signing onto $10/day child care deal, this leave New Brunswick and Ontario as the only holdouts.

The current deals will cover 60% of all Canadian children.

— Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) November 15, 2021

The deal is for $3.8 billion in federal funding over the next five years.

Child-care fees are be halved by next year and reduced to an average of $10 a day by 2026.

Kenney also says this deal is part of his government's plan to get a better deal for the province, and that they will continue to fight for that better deal.

He ends by thanking the feds for coming together to make this deal.

— Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) November 15, 2021

Kenney says the Alberta agreement will make the subsidies eligible for all types of licensed child-care facilities up to kindergarten.

Choice of child care had been a sticking point in negotiations between Ottawa and Alberta.

The child care deal is being welcomed by public interest Alberta.

Its executive director calls it a momentous day for working families and says the federal plan for $10-a-day child care is a gamechanger.

Bradley Lafortune says families have been struggling for too long making rent or mortgage-sized payments to get decent care for their kids.

Meantime, the country’s national child care advocacy association says this deal could more than double the existing supply of regulated not-for-profit childcare spaces.

Child Care Now says the commitment to developing a provincial wage grid is essential to bringing educators back into the child care system.

The Calgary Chamber of Commerce says the agreement makes Alberta a more attractive place to build a career and have a family.

President and CEO Deborah Yedlin says with the labour-force participation rate of Canadian women at its lowest level in 30 years, it also means more people can participate in our economic recovery and growth.

Thornhill Child Care Society Director of Operations, Judy White, says they have been pushing for this agreement to be signed since it became available.

“But, you know, I also understand that Alberta does have a very unique market in some ways so there was some things that obviously had to be worked out,” White said.

Due to the pandemic, the society and many other operators province-wide have experienced disruptions in enrollment.

“This is gonna make a huge difference both for families and for operators,” she said. “The fact that families will actually be able to afford to get their children into licensed childcare and be able to do the things that they need to do such as getting back to work.”