In April 2008, Public Interest Alberta hosted Not For Sale: Promoting Public Solutions in Today's Alberta, a conference about countering the many faces of privatization in Alberta.

Deborah Brennan is a leading Australian public policy researcher, and has been a well-informed critic of the corporatization of childcare in Australia and of its consequences for families and children in need. She was one of several international guests at the conference, and her presentation traced the development of the corporate childcare model in Australia and drew valuable comparisons to the Alberta context. Click here to view Deborah Brennan's presentation.

The current crisis:

New documents revealed by PIA's official request for information about the province's use of the $25.9 million it received from the federal government for the creation of new childcare spaces reveal that the province did not factor this new funding into last year's childcare budget, and suggest that the money was put into general revenue.

PIA continues to call on the government to spend these allocated funds to create childcare spaces, and to increase funding for childcare overall.

Click here to read the March 7, 2008 media release.

Federal-Provincial Funding for Childcare: Background

The national study released on December 7th, 2007 from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit at the University of Toronto, Early Childhood Education and Care in Canada 2006, showed that Alberta spends the lowest amount per capita on childcare and the lowest amount for each regulated childcare space. Click here to read PIA's December 13 media release.

 The Childcare Task Force: Background

Childcare and early childhood education was one of the first public interest issues addressed by Public Interest Alberta. In the spring of 2005, Public Interest Alberta and its members mounted a successful advocacy effort to get the provincial government to sign on to a National Childcare deal with the federal government. This past year the Harper government dismantled the national childcare agreements. Public Interest Alberta used it’s large communications network to pressure the Alberta Minister of Children’s Services to publicly defend the national childcare agreement.

With the rapid expansion of the population of Alberta, finding quality childcare has become even more difficult. The staffing problem is even worse for after school centres that are not even eligible for the small wage enhancements currently available to childcare workers.

With this development Public Interest Alberta continues to advocate for accessible, high quality and affordable childcare and early childhood education. We will continue to put pressure on the provincial government to use the additional $25 million announced in the federal budget to be put into a new accessibility plan.

The task force will be developing a plan for greater accessibility for public and not for profit childcare and early childhood education services. We will continue to raise the issue of low wages for childcare workers as part of our advocacy work for living wages and will work with the Canadian Childcare Advocacy Association of Canada (CCAAC) on promoting the national Code Blue campaign.

Education and Alberta's Future: PIA hosts three forums

All three forums featured internationally renowned education expert Dr. Fraser Mustard, a panel of speakers and a round-table discussion, and focused on the importance and interconnectedness of early childhood, K-12 and post-secondary education.