Alberta creating 22,500 private affordable child-care spaces

Alberta is creating thousands of new affordable child-care spaces in high-demand communities.

The province says expanding the Space Creation Grant to include private child care will create up to 22,500 licenced spaces.

The Alberta and federal governments are pledging $28 million to expand the program.

Alberta signed a $3.8 billion, five-year child-care deal with the federal government in 2021. Tuesday’s announcement revealed how Alberta’s deal is different from most other provinces by allowing private day homes.

“Alberta has had a unique child-care system,” said Krystal Churcher, the chair of the Association of Alberta Childcare Entrepreneurs. “We have a majority of our child-care spaces held by private operators in our province. So to have a federal program rollout that pretty much excludes 70 per cent of the market has really limited parental choice. It’s also stunted the expansion of private centres in Alberta.

“This approach not only aligns with the unique needs of our province, but also ensures that we don’t solely rely on the direction the federal government has been pushing for, which is a fully standardized public system.”

Private operators provide approximately 60 per cent of licenced child care in Alberta.

Searle Turton, Alberta’s minister of family and children services, says the private child-care industry will be instrumental in increasing care spaces.

He adds the grant will help the province meet its overall commitment to create more than 68,700 new and affordable licenced spaces by 2026. It also brings Alberta closer to achieving $10-per-day child care by that same year.

Turton says the funding will be focused on creating new spaces in communities where they are needed the most. It will also reduce parent fees of zero to kindergarten-aged children by 50 per cent on average, the minister adds.

‘Massive win’ for Alberta parents

Churcher is praising the program because it respects a parent’s ability to choose what works best for them. She called it a “massive win” for parents and private operators.

She says the non-profit sector is simply unable to keep up with the demand from parents.

“So to have a government in our province that is willing to understand and look at how our child-care system is structured in our province and really see the uniqueness and critical dependency that our child-care system has on private operators and embrace that is a welcome announcement today,” she said.

In a statement, the Opposition NDP’s critic for child care agreed Alberta needs safe, high quality and affordable child care. But Diana Batten says there was nothing new about Tuesday’s announcement, arguing the spaces were already announced in January.

“Today’s cynical reannouncement of an announcement the UCP government made over nine months ago is a shameful distraction from the child-care issues they should be focused on,” Batten said, referencing the E. coli outbreak in Calgary.

Turton, however, told reporters the 22,500 spaces were in addition to January’s announcement.

Cynthia Nerling, president of the Alberta Association of Childcare Operators, says the grant expansion will lead to more stability for Alberta families.

“I hope it will also lead to increased support and predictability for a sector that has continued to innovate and grow through so many challenges and so much uncertainty,” she said.

Applications for Space Creation Grant funding are open to licensed non-profit and private facility-based child-care programs and family day home agencies.