EXCERPTS
The Alberta government has given $1.8 million to three daycare centres in Fort McMurray, as part of a pilot project bringing $25-per-day daycare to childcare centres across Alberta.
The funding is part of the Early Learning and Child Care pilot program, joining a daycare centre in Anzac that was part of the first phase of the project.
The other centres include Children First: Community Child Care- Eagle Ridge Nest, YMCA Birchwood Child Care and Tiny Toes Daycare.
During a Friday visit to Tiny Toes Daycare in downtown Fort McMurray, Children’s Services Minister Danielle Larivee said she hopes to see the program arrive in more daycares across Wood Buffalo and Alberta.
“My intention and goal is to make sure every single family in Alberta who wants access to quality and affordable health care has access to $25-a-day child care, which I know would be life changing for every single family,” she said.
Across Alberta, the expansion brings the total of affordable spaces to 7,300 in 122 centres. Funding comes from an agreement with the federal government, which is providing $136 million to cover the next three years of the program.
The province estimates this will save parents an average of $425 per month. The province also expects 400 new child care jobs to be created, while 1,400 Albertans will return to the workforce.
Since the program was introduced, Larivee said she has met parents who have decided to go back to work or have more children.
“It brings income back into the household,” said Tina Delainey, a Fort McMurray parent with two children in Tiny Toes Daycare.
Before the program was introduced, she was paying $1,150 per child monthly, which worked out to $26,000 last year. With the new program, Delainey estimates she will spend between $500 to $550 monthly on daycare fees.
“It’s nice to know this money will go back to the house,” she said.