BURST
Cara Werner offered some guarded optimism as Saskatchewan recently signed a five-year, $1.6-billion childcare agreement with the federal government.
“There’s a little bit of relief that the deal is signed,” said Werner, the director at Dream Big Child Care in Rocanville. “At least we have some stability for the next five years. But there’s certainly some areas of it that are concerning.”
Werner noted that she wanted to see the substance of the agreement before getting her hopes up too high.
One detail that brought some concern was shared by Sask. Minister of Education Everett Hindley, who said there would be some public dollars in the form of grants available to for-profit centres.
“There will be a very small portion, yes, that is included in the new agreement with the federal government,” said Hindley, who emphasized that for-profit operations are a “very small portion of the sector.”
“I don’t think that’s good for Saskatchewan,” said Sue Delanoy, a spokesperson for the advocacy group Child Care Now Saskatchewan. “Once the for-profit centre realizes they can’t make money, those assets go back to who?”
On Friday, Hindley said the new deal means greater reliability and security for operators. However, specificity on how the deal will look over the next five years is yet to be developed.
“The next step for us is to be able to negotiate and work on the actual action plan and have that work done. That will get into the finer details of what that looks like and how that impacts individual operators,” said Hindley.
Joan Pratchler, Sask. NDP critic for early learning and childcare, questioned why it took the province so long to sign the deal.
Saskatchewan is one of the last provinces or territories to join the new program, which Hindley said last week was due in part to the federal government holding things up.
A statement from the office of Patty Hajdu, federal minister of jobs and families, stated that “Saskatchewan was first offered an extension to the Canada-wide ELCC agreement in early 2025. At the time, they did not sign the agreement. Due to the federal election, it took time to resume negotiations.”
Based on Pratchler’s conversations with front-line workers, she said there was a general frustration over the lack of consultation in the lead-up to the agreement. Meanwhile, many established centres struggled to keep the lights on amid a frozen fee structure that had not been adjusted since the original deal came into force over two years ago, she noted.
“We need a respectable wage grid and benefits,” said Pratchler. “We need an equitable funding formula. We need recruitment and retention supports and transparent accountability.”
At least one aspect of the new deal was greeted favourably by all parties. It states that children who turn six while in childcare will still be eligible for the $10-a-day rate for the remainder of that same school year.
“The age increase is good. That’s a really good thing,” said Delanoy.
The original agreement for $10-a-day childcare, implemented by Saskatchewan in spring 2023, was set to expire on March 31, 2026. It’s part of a program which the federal government rolled out to make affordable childcare a reality across Canada by subsidizing costs.
“It’s never been more important for parents to be able to work, study or start a business but, for too many families, access to childcare has been a major barrier,” said Saskatchewan-based Secretary of State Buckley Belanger, appearing on behalf of Hajdu.
Belanger said there would be an annual three-per-cent funding increase for centres as part of the new agreement.
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