Excerpts

Saskatchewan is making adjustments to the recently expanded $10-a-day child-care system, citing a lack of federal funding to fully support its original targets for the province.

Minister of Education Everett Hindley announced that the newly inked $10-a-day program offered through the federal government will cover up to 10 hours of daily care, effective July 1.

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Under the new changes, care providers can charge families for time beyond the 10 hours up to an additional value of almost $200 per month, in some cases.

Hindley was joined by assistant deputy minister Sameema Haque, who’s involved with the early learning child-care branch. She said more than 90 per cent of centres in Saskatchewan already operate with a 10-hour limit, so effects across the province will be limited.

That’s not good enough, according to Cara Werner, chair of the advocacy group Child Care Now Saskatchewan and executive director of Dream Big Child Care in Rocanville. She worries that this will impact parents in her own community, a number of whom are nurses or work in the nearby potash mine.

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The NDP’s Joan Pratchler, who is the critic for early learning and child care, says other provinces have footed the extra cost and wonders why Saskatchewan hasn’t done the same.

Hindley defended the province’s previous investments into the sector.

The minister said the province will address funding gaps between new and legacy operators by increasing payments to the 20 per cent on the lowest end of the range.

Other changes that take effect on July 1 include daycares being allotted a maximum monthly parent fee grant, which means a facility would only receive grants for its number of licensed spaces.

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