Child care and early learning

Bill Moore Kilgannon, executive director of Public Interest Alberta (PIA), said the province spends among the lowest per-capita on child care in Canada. His organization is convinced the NDP plan will actually be a boon for the economy as lowered child-care costs will entice many more parents back into the workforce.“Guess what? They pay taxes,” he said.“It’s important, right off the top, that people don’t see this as a government expense,” Kilgannon added. “It’s an investment that actually can potentially pay more.”

If Alberta had a fair taxation system, we could develop a comprehensive early childhood education and care system that would support 110,000 childcare, day-home, and after school spaces. While the Alberta government’s Social Policy Framework identified early childhood education and care as one of Alberta’s top priorities, instead of coming out with a new strategy, the government continues to spend the lowest of all the provinces on childcare, relative to our increasing childcare population and GDP. [VIDEO];

"While many school boards across Alberta, including those in Calgary, offer some full-day kindergarten programs, the province only provides funding for half-day programs, which requires boards to allocate money from their budgets. Julie Hrdlicka, outreach co-ordinator for Public Interest Alberta, said full-day kindergarten helps kids — particularly ones from low-income families that can’t afford costly early childhood care — achieve equal footing with their classmates by the time they enter Grade 1."

"Glaciers have receded faster than daycare has advanced over the past three decades. If, the day before Public Interest Alberta released its Childcare Survey this week, you had rounded up some journalists reaching retirement age and asked them to predict its findings, they’d have rattled off the key points like jaded movie buffs reciting dialogue from Casablanca."

"According to a survey of 212 childcare operators, conducted by Public Interest Alberta and released in conjunction with National Child Day, locating quality child care is a struggle for most Alberta families and increasingly difficult for low-income families or families of children with special needs."

"PIA Executive Director Bill Moore-Kilgannon said day cares with waiting lists can have more than 300 children on those lists, with parents waiting years to get a space in their chosen facility. 'Alberta is amongst the lowest spenders, just behind Saskatchewan, in terms of how much we spend (on child care) relative to our GDP,' Moore-Kilgannon said. 'Because of that, we have the lowest number of women in the workforce, compared to the rest of the country, particularly for children under the age of two. … This is a gender-equity issue.'"

EDMONTON—Families with infants, children with special needs and low-incomes hit hardest by lack of childcare funding. In recognition of National Child Day, Public Interest Alberta released the results of a new province-wide survey of childcare centres, day homes and after school care that reveals how Alberta’s underfunded childcare system is failing too many families.

Public Interest Alberta coordinated a survey of childcare centres, day homes, and after-school care centres across Alberta in August and September 2014. Close to 1,000 childcare operators were invited to participate and 212 filled out the survey.

"Public Interest Alberta executive director Bill Moore-Kilgannon notes that Medicine Hat has the highest percentage of low wage workers in Alberta, with 40 per cent of employed people making less than $15 per hour. 'Just over 60 per cent of low wage workers are women in Medicine Hat,' he said."

We recently had the below video commissioned to commemorate our 10th anniversary advocating for the public interest in Alberta. Please share it widely to bring greater awareness to what we do and the issues we advocate for. The video was made by Don Bouzek, and the music is by Maria Dunn. [VIDEO]