P.E.I. child-care fees down to $25 a day in new year

Fees for child care at designated Early Years Centres in P.E.I. will be reduced to $25 a day starting Jan. 1.

Islanders currently pay between $27 and $34 a day for child care. The reduction to $25 a day would mean savings of $2 to $9 every month for those families.

"I know being a mom myself of a three and a five-year-old, the affordability of child care is key to ensure that families and parents, and especially women, can re-enter the workforce," says P.E.I.'s Minister of Education Natalie Jameson.

"We're hearing it loud and clear. The cost of goods are rising and the cost of services, so we want to be there to support our families."

The reduction in fees is part of a larger plan between the federal and provincial governments that was introduced in July. The deal promises that child-care rates would drop to $10 a day in P.E.I. by 2024.

The federal government made similar deals with six other provinces and one territory to reduce child-care fees to $10 a day. But P.E.I. has the fastest timeline laid out to reach that goal within the next three years. 

The $25-a-day rate won't immediately apply to all child-care centres on P.E.I. in the new year. It will come into effect at licensed Early Years centres Jan. 1, but licensed non-designated centres will have to apply for provincial funding to reduce fees starting.

Elizabeth Jeffery, owner and director of Little Wonders Early Learning Centre in Charlottetown, said the reduced rate will have a big impact on parents with young children.

"Oh my gosh, it's going to be huge for them," Jeffery said.

"It will be a lot less, especially for people who have babies — that's a big rate change for them.

"That will impact some people's ability to buy groceries and pay rent and put gas in their car."

Jeffery used to be president of P.E.I.'s Early Childhood Development Association, and she said that experience showed her how difficult it can be to make changes in government policy. 

"I have learned how freaking long it takes for everything to happen in government because there are so many steps," she said. 

"The fact that they're able to get this happening as quickly as they are, although it might seem really slow to those from the outside, having been on the inside, I know that it's actually quite remarkable."