Excerpt
Canada’s $10-a-day childcare program has created a financial crisis for a Regina daycare. The Scott Infant and Toddler Centre is burning through its cash reserves in order to remain open.
The centre has issued an urgent call for equitable government funding solutions.
Ten dollar a day childcare has been beneficial for parents across the board. This includes Kayla Schultz and her family.
“It is highly advantageous for us to have not a very high fee up front and we’re able to put that money towards other things,” Schultz told CTV News. “You know, the cost of living or childcare, sports, things like that in our budget.”
However, daycares such as the Scott Infant and Toddler Centre in North Central Regina are feeling the fiscal pinch.
Centre Board Chair Roman Morrow says government funding hasn’t kept up with increased operating costs since the program’s inception in 2021.
“[We] lost over $135,000 since that time out of our reserves,” he explained. “So the reality is that funding model as it exists right now for our centre is only being sustained because of our reserves and it can’t be sustained in the long term.”
The $10-a-day childcare program is jointly funded by the federal and provincial governments.
...