The provincial government is advocating to the federal government to ensure Alberta families have access to licensed private child care spaces.
To ensure families have access to child care a cost control framework, and for-profit expansion plan will be implemented which will allow private child care operators to be included in funding support.
“This announcement is great news not just for us but also for our Alberta families. Including private operators in the child care agreement will meaningfully impact Alberta families seeking affordable child care. We are excitedly looking forward to continuing to offer families choices when deciding where their child or children can go to for affordable high-quality child care,” president, of the Alberta Association of Child Care Operators Cynthia Nerling said.
Work by Children’s Services will ensure the Alberta-Canada Wide Early Learning and Child Care agreement (ACELCC) will reflect what Alberta families need in the child care system.
Through the ACELCC agreement, average child care fees for children between zero and kindergarten age have been reduced.
Expanding spaces is expected to reduce child care fees for parents to an average of $10 per day by 2026, a government of Alberta media release said.
“We remain fully committed to supporting the development of a child care system that works best for Alberta families by providing parents with affordable, accessible, flexible, and inclusive high-quality child care. Including more private spaces in the child care agreement is the next step in ensuring that parents have more child care options and reducing parent fees to an average of $10 a day by 2026,” Minister of Children’s Services Mickey Amery said.
The cost control framework, and for-profit expansion plan will make more than 22,000 licensed private child care spaces eligible for funding over three years.
The supports are expected to increase access to childcare throughout the province and reduce childcare fees.
“Today’s announcement highlights our commitment to on-the-ground child care providers in Alberta. Our expansion plan will create spaces for parents and get children off waitlists while ensuring the reasonable use of tax dollars. We want more families with children in licensed spaces to be able to reap the benefits of more affordable childcare,” federal Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Karina Gould said.
Private child care spaces are included in the framework to ensure access to licensed child care is a mixed-market system in the province.
“We negotiated a made-in-Alberta child care deal that would improve access to affordable, accessible and quality childcare for Albertans. We fought hard for a deal that would fully include our valued private operators, because we knew the success of this program relies on the innovation and creativity of these, oftentimes, female entrepreneurs who serve families and kids across the province. This framework was the next step in that agreement and I’m glad to see we can now move ahead on creating more spaces,” Minister of Municipal Affairs Rebecca Schulz said.
Going forward, the province is now preparing for the framework and expansion plan implementation by developing a sustainable funding model, and continuing to engage with child care operators on how to implement the framework successfully.
