EDMONTON - Yesterday, the federal government announced a historic investment into child care, proposing to spend an additional $30 billion over the next 5 years, with the goal of establishing a nation-wide $10 per day child care system. Today, Public Interest Alberta is demanding that the provincial government commit to the rollout of the federal program by upholding a 50-50 agreement to match half of the federal investment and ensure that every family in Alberta has access to high-quality, accessible, and affordable child care.

EDMONTON - Public Interest Alberta has released the results of its biennial Child Care Operator Survey. The survey respondents highlighted the struggles the sector is experiencing during the COVID-19 pandemic, and shows how government cuts to sector funding is making a difficult situation even worse.

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If even one kid living in poverty is too many, what is 164,000 children?

In Alberta, 1 in 6 children live below the poverty line. This is unconscionable in such a wealthy country and province -- ending child poverty is a moral obligation for all of us. 

The research shows us without a doubt that allowing any child to live in poverty has ripple effects. When children grow up in poverty, it affects their mental health, educational attainment, employment, and housing throughout their lives, and they are more likely to remain in low-income status as adults. 

Investing in ending child poverty now means better outcomes for everyone. Childhood poverty leads to less healthy adults with more serious health and social problems. This means greater stress on our health care and social support systems. Investing in prevention now means we avoid those downstream costs and we build healthier communities. These impacts benefit all of us, regardless of our economic status. 

One key intervention in child poverty is affordable, accessible, and high-quality child care and early learning. Child care is one of the biggest household expenses, up to two-thirds of a low-income family’s monthly income. Access to high-quality, universally-accessible, and affordable child care is a proven method for lowering child poverty and is an especially profound intervention for single mothers, who are among the most affected by poverty. Studies show that children in places with universal access to child care have better physical health, developmental, and psychological conditions by age six.

We can’t leave children trapped in life-long cycles of poverty. We must act now, especially during the pandemic when even more people are struggling. We have a moral obligation to end child poverty in our province, and the result would be a more healthy and compassionate society for all of us. 

Will you join the fight to end child poverty?

EDMONTON - Public Interest Alberta has debuted a new campaign which highlights the all-encompassing and devastating issues facing Albertan children living in poverty.

On July 15, 2020, Public Interest Alberta submitted the following backgrounder and recommendations to the provincial government as they undertake their review of the Child Care Licensing Act and Regulation.  The recommendations were formulated in collaboration with the policy experts and sector workers who sit on our Child Care and Early Learning Task Force. 

Many areas of public services have been in the spotlight across Canada during the current COVID-19 crisis. For struggling parents, early childhood educators, and service providers in Alberta, the arrival of the COVID crisis has forcefully highlighted why a new way needs to be found to support tenuous child care services if Alberta is to thrive economically after the pandemic.

Child care is an essential service that was already in flux in Alberta with the expiration of the first phase of funds through the Early Learning and Child Care bilateral agreements the federal government signed with each province/territory three years ago. With cessation of ordinary economic activity, however, the COVID crisis has pushed many of Alberta’s child care services to the verge of collapse, with mass staff layoffs and parents paying fees to hold spaces at closed services. Yet the Alberta government has been reluctant to commit to shoring up the child care sector with effective fiscal and policy remedies, as some other provinces have done.

EDMONTON - Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley has announced her party’s child care plan for the provincial election campaign. It pledges to cap costs for all existing child care spaces at a maximum of $25 per day, as well as add 13,000 new spaces, expanding on her government’s successful pilot project.

The Alberta government's $25-a-day child care pilot program is important, not only for parents and their kids, but also for the workers in the field. The results are clear: the program is a success. We need universal child care so families are fully supported in the care and development of their children. Watch the video!

On November 20, 2018, to coincide with National Child Day, Public Interest Alberta, the Edmonton Social Planning Council, and the Alberta College of Social Workers published a new child poverty report, One in Six is Too Many: An Alberta Child Poverty Report.