EDMONTON—Today the Government of Alberta announced funding for up to 18 Early Learning and Child Care Centres, focusing on creating new spaces that are both affordable and high quality.
“Today’s announcement is a good start towards building a comprehensive, affordable, high-quality child care system available to all Albertans,” said Joel French, Executive Director of Public Interest Alberta. “The current shortage of child care spaces in Alberta is particularly acute for high-quality care, so the creation of up to 1,000 quality spaces is welcome news."
Public Interest Alberta applauded the government for its departure from the practices of past governments by making child care and early learning investments a priority and ensuring the new supports are available only to non-profit operators.
"Previous governments had been content with a ‘wild west’ approach to child care, leading to the patchwork child care market we have today that has been increasingly dominated by for-profit providers," said French. "Today's announcement puts quality, access, and affordability for Albertans before profits."
French acknowledged that the government is successfully delivering on its child care commitments despite the severe shortage of government revenues due to the low price of oil.
“For Alberta to have the capacity to protect and expand our public services, including further improvements to child care, all political parties must detail the solutions they propose to the severe revenue shortage we are facing,” said French. "The pilot project announced today will only turn into a universal early learning and child care system if Alberta's government revenue shortage is addressed."
-30-
