Province negotiating national child care program with Ottawa
CBC
As the federal government and Alberta reach a deal for a child-care agreement, the Progressive Conservative government in New Brunswick says it wants to better understand the potential impact of federal funding on smaller, for-profit businesses.
On Monday, Alberta and the federal government announced details of their deal to support an average of $10-a-day universal federal child care program.
This would create 42,500 new regulated early learning and child care spaces in Alberta by the end of March 2026.
In April as part of this year's budget, Ottawa announced $30 billion over five years and $8.3 billion ongoing intended to create a robust and affordable child-care system.
Many parents in New Brunswick have struggled to find child care under the current system.
"In terms of accessibility, of being able to find something that's close to home, it can make it challenging," said Fredericton's Kristen Barnes.
Barnes has an 11-month daughter and said in an interview that she just found a daycare spot for her child, despite calling multiple centres fairly early on in her pregnancy.
Some businesses told Barnes waiting lists were so long, she might not get a spot until September of 2022.
Eventually, Barnes was able to find a daycare, but they only take children at 15 months or older.
She has to go back to work at the end of the year, so Barnes said family will be able to watch her child until she is old enough to start daycare.
But she knows every family is different and others may face multiple hurdles to find child care.
"Child care is quite expensive for all families who are looking for it and even looking at the cost for our family, like one child can be compared to a monthly rent payment or a mortgage payment."
Some research has shown that if fees dropped to $10 a day, it would save parents in New Brunswick about $7,500 a year per infant.
Parents of pre-schoolers, who now pay an average of $8,300 per child, would save about $5,700 per child per year by 2026.
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