Childcare relief for parents as Alberta and Canada pen extension to one-year agreement
Posted Dec 13, 2025 2:09 pm.
The Alberta and Canadian governments agreed to a one-year childcare extension on Friday that could save families thousands of dollars.
The new agreement includes extending the Canada-Alberta Early Learning and Childcare Agreement and the Early Learning and Child Care Infrastructure Funding Agreement, which will continue until March 31, 2027.
Over $1.17 billion will be used to fund childcare outlets, maintain affordability grants, support licensed operators, and advance long-term development of the national child-care system.
According to Federal Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu, the agreement includes funding for infrastructure while maintaining the $15-per-day commitment for children kindergarten age and younger in daycare and family day-home programs.
“It’s not a perfect system yet, but it’s better than nothing, which is what we had just a few years ago,” she said at a news conference at the Remington YMCA in Calgary’s Quarry Park.
Education Minister Demetrios Nicolades says the government is continuing to look at the licensing requirements for for-profit spaces, after development was put on hold when a cap was reached under the program earlier this year.
That cap is being lifted to allow for 5,000 spaces as the province looks for a balance between profit and non-profit sectors. More family day homes also qualify for support after a 14,500 home funding cap was removed.
Krystal Churcher, chair of the Association of Canadian Early Learning Programs, is happy to see the extension of the federal-provincial deal, but says the program’s cap imposed last May caused an issue involving affordable access.
“We have centers that are sitting next door to centers with waitlists that can’t give families the affordability grant in their centers,” she explained.
“It’s not that there’s a lack of spaces anymore, it’s a lack of access to this program.”
Churcher also says the program still has issues and is “out of touch with reality” because it didn’t involve people working within the sector, “without true stakeholders.”
“I feel like we’ve lost our low-income subsidy this year in Alberta, which has been a huge hit to the sector — huge hit to the families that need it the most,” she said.
Vidya Venkatraman, who owns and operates Montesorri School, is anxious for more details.
“Whether it’s going to be back to certain high need areas, or the operators who were affected in the past when they made the change on May 15, 2025,” she said.
Nikolaidis says he is open to further suggestions.
“Always happy to have those conversations, always happy to look at ways to improve, provide programming supports to parents in ways that meets their needs, so no immediate plans, but always happy to listen,” he said.
In 2021, both governments entered a 5-year childcare agreement, which was set to end in March 2026. The deal’s end could have seen monthly daycare costs jump from a capped $326 per month to over $1,000.
The funding is expected to save Alberta families an estimated $11,000 per child each year.
With files from Phoenix Phillips
