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Some child care advocates in Saskatchewan say the province’s extended child care agreement is playing out differently than expected, hitting some parents with higher fees than anticipated.
Last November, the provincial government announced the extension of its $10-a-day child care agreement with the federal government.
The extended agreement includes an expanded age eligibility, meaning six-year-old children could continue to receive the $10-a-day child care until they finish the school year, as of the 2026-2027 budget cycle.
But some child care advocates say they assumed the $10-a-day child care agreement applied to all children turning six this year, even if they turn six before the new agreement takes effect.
“It’s very frustrating. We keep advocating for the families of Saskatchewan, and they just keep getting the short end of the stick, unfortunately,” said Cara Werner, chair of Child Care Now Saskatchewan.
The new deal takes effect on April 1, the day after the old agreement ends. The old agreement ran for a five-year term, starting in the fall of 2021, for children under the age of six.
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Werner told reporters Thursday that, along with other child-care workers, she received an email Monday from the Ministry of Education about the terms of the extended agreement, adding it was then that she learned the new deal would not apply retroactively to six-year-olds who already had their birthdays this year.
“We were under the impression that this is how the deal was going to roll out. We have emails that state that. And then we received an email from the Ministry of Education on Monday saying something different, that it wasn’t retroactive,” Werner said.
Education Minister Everett Hindley told reporters the new deal was always structured this way, adding that provisions prevent the province from funding children who turn six before April 1.
“This is the best deal that we were able to obtain, and again, I would state that it was a better deal than (is) currently in place for Saskatchewan families,” said Hindley.
The province’s official Opposition is calling on the province to amend the agreement with the federal government.
Hindley adds that any changes to the new agreement would mean that the province would have to go back to the drawing board with Ottawa.
“That doesn’t happen just in a few days,” he said.
“There was a significant amount of negotiation that took place once the federal government began negotiating with us in October and early November, and they were anxious to get this deal signed.”
Hindley adds that he respects the concerns of parents and operators.
Opposition leader Carla Beck slammed the new agreement, saying it leaves families to pay much higher-than-budgeted fees for the rest of the school year.
“This is a huge deal to those families, and it is a big deal to working in early childhood, working in child care, who are going to be the ones who take the brunt of the calls from panicked parents,” Beck told reporters Thursday.
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