Child care and early learning

EDMONTON—Today Public Interest Alberta, in partnership with the Terra Centre for Teen Parents and Early Childhood Development Support Services, released the results of a province-wide survey of child care operators. The responses highlighted concerns related to accessibility, affordability, and quality of early learning and child care in Alberta.

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.

"Private schools do not need public funding. That could easily have been the title of the Fraser Institute’s recent report on private schools across Canada."

EDMONTON—The Edmonton Social Planning Council, the Alberta College of Social Workers, and Public Interest Alberta released a new report, “The Path Forward: Opportunities to End Child Poverty in Alberta” on the eve of the Alberta government’s 2016 budget.

"The Alberta government’s recent Speech from the Throne began with a focus on women. Delivering the speech on International Women’s Day, the government said it would 'recommit to carrying on this work' for gender equality, while also noting that a new mother now heads the Ministry for the Status of Women. But noticeably absent in the speech was any mention of the government’s promise to increase child care funding."

EDMONTON—The Speech from the Throne was delivered today by Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Lois Mitchell. It pledged to protect health care and education in the face of the government’s severe revenue shortage.

The Canadian Child Care Federation has launched a letter writing campaign to provincial/territorial and federal ministers around child care programs and services across the country.  Please use the text below, provided by the CCCF, to contact the Ministry of Human Services and the Ministry of Families, Children, and Social Development.  Contact information below.

"The Prentice government's pre-election budget would have resulted in larger class sizes, fewer students enrolling in post-secondary education, less capacity in our health care system, and seniors losing their drug benefits," said Joel French, Executive Director of Public Interest Alberta."

"Every year for the past several years, the Alberta government’s budget documents have included a graph titled 'Alberta's Tax Advantage'. The graph shows how much revenue the government would raise if it had the same tax structure as each of Canada’s nine other provinces. The graph ought to be more appropriately titled 'Alberta’s Revenue Disadvantage.'"

"One organization is sounding the alarm about a shortage of child care spots in the province as the enhanced benefits from Ottawa are rolled out. Public Interest Alberta maintains that the cheques will only have a marginal benefit for parents who are shelling out the big bucks or are on long wait lists."