Child care operators are facing the deadline on Wednesday to sign on to the province’s affordability grant agreement, despite many concerns coming from operators about said agreement.
Diana Batten, the NDP opposition critic for Childcare, says many operators are “finding themselves between a rock and a hard place”.
“On one side, if they sign this agreement, the burden of the agreement falls on them and the reality is they really can’t afford to carry that burden before the government repays them. On the other hand if they don’t sign the agreement, their only option then because they won’t be seeing those subsidies and won’t be seeing those supports is to raise their fees.”
The grant aims to cover administrative, overhead and educator costs, but operators say the funding model requires centres to offer care at a subsidized price up front, and wait weeks for provincial reimbursements.
Batten says more flexibility is needed for operators when it comes to the agreement.
“The entire agreement is very black and white, it’s all or nothing. I’ve heard from a lot of that “if maybe I can’t sign under this part, but if I could just still keep up this part, I could at least keep my staff” but the answer from the government has been no, it’s all or nothing. Why not sit down with operators and actually come up with solutions that work for Albertans?”
The Affordability Grant Agreement was established by the Alberta government in 2021 under the federal-provincial child-care agreement, which promised parents that they would pay an average of $10 per day for child care by the end of 2026.
By 2025, Alberta has plans to transition from an Early Learning and Child Care system funded by parent fees, to one primarily funded by government in a way to reduce core child care fees.
The full interview we did with Batten can be found below.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
