BONNYVILLE – There are a lot of unknowns for local parents when it comes to the future of affordable childcare.
The Bonnyville and District Daycare Centre received word from the province that the $25 per day childcare program has been extended until the end of July. A new subsidy will be implemented in August, however, what that will look like has those needing the service on edge.
Kim Harvie, executive director of the Bonnyville and District Daycare, noted the lack of information has left them feeling apprehensive about the situation.
“What we’ve learned through COVID-19 is information can change very quickly, and sometimes the avenue that information is released isn’t always the best,” she explained. “Like, sometimes we would find out information via social media before we were contacted by the province. So we would have parents, staff, and that kind of thing forwarding questions to us, which we couldn’t answer because we hadn’t been notified.”
The $25 per day pilot project was launched by the previous NDP government in November 2016 and saw selected childcare centres receiving up to $500,000 in operating funding enabling them to lower their fees. In the spring of 2017, the program was expanded to included more facilities and Bonnyville was included.
Since then, a number of local families have been able to benefit from the reduced childcare costs.
“It was a huge help to my husband and I because, honestly, you start to balance out ‘do I want to continue my career or do I stay at home and raise my kids?’ because we can’t control childcare,” Bonnyville mom Victoria Bird told the Nouvelle.
When Bird’s son was one the family had to put him in a private day home, which was an expensive option, because there weren't any spaces available at the Bonnyville daycare. It made all the difference for the new parents when a spot finally opened up.
“We were very thankful to get into the program at the daycare with him because it makes it so much more affordable and it gives both parents an opportunity to continue with their careers while providing for their families,” Bird expressed. “It gets a bit tricky when you have your entire paycheck going to just childcare.”
The numbers alone prove affordable daycare is a much-need service in the local community. Prior to COVID-19, the centre was operating close to maximum capacity with around 80 children, Harvie said.
“After COVID-19, we were only at a capacity of 24 but now we can be up to full capacity and we’re at about 60 per cent capacity right now," she added.
With the $25 per day program expiring at the end of this month, the province has said they're in talks with the federal government on a new initiative, but there's no indication of what that will look like.
According to Lauren Armstrong, senior press secretary for Alberta’s Minister of Children’s Services, they are working with “some centres serving lower-income families to ensure families don’t experience hardships.”
“We also continue to work with the federal government on a new bilateral agreement that will serve all families accessing childcare, which we look forward to sharing soon,” she said in a statement.
With very little known about what will come next, Harvie said she's remaining hopeful.
“With all the discussion now for where the economy is and the relaunch, people are trying to get back to work but they’ve been off for so long. It would be nice if they did something across the board for everybody.”
For families like Bird's, what the new childcare program will look like and whether or not Bonnyville will be included will have a major impact on their lives.“We’re extremely worried because it would change our family dynamic to a great extent if we were to lose the $25 a day daycare, and we’d have to make some really hard decisions as a family.”
