A study of Saskatchewan’s $10-a-day childcare program has proven the province fell short when it came to creating spaces during the first year of the project, according to Cardus, a “non-partisan think tank”.
Saskatchewan started its $10-a-day childcare program on April 1.
The agreement was struck in 2021 and included $27 billion from the federal budget to roll the program out over five years.
Saskatchewan was one of the first provinces to drop fees during the second year of the program and then to an average of $10 a day in fees by the beginning of the third year.
Despite being one of the first to push out the program, the study said the province fell short of space-creation targets and struggled with other measures in the agreement.
According to a study done by Cardus, Saskatchewan was only able to allocate 37 per cent of the targeted 6,000 new spaces in year one, despite exceeding the year-one funding provided for space creation.
“It overpromised and underdelivered on that promise area,” said family program director at Cardus Peter Jon Mitchell.
The study said the shortfall will increase the burden to create more spaces in the remaining years of the program.
“Going forward, the province is going to have to create something around 6,500 spaces per year to meet its five-year target and in the first year, only created about 2,200 spaces,” Mitchell said.
Lisa Wyatt, senior manager of early learning care at Hopes Home said that now that childcare is more affordable, demand is increasing.
“Some centres are actually no longer adding children to their waitlist because their waitlist is already so long.”
She said daycares are having a hard time finding the staff to fulfill child to caretaker ratios.
Mitchell highlighted the province was given $114 million to spend during the first year of the project but had trouble implementing the money.
“For instance, it was allocated $400,000 to do some programming with First Nation and Metis communities and that got postponed to the second year,” Mitchel said.
“Effort towards inclusion targets, were underwhelming at best,” the study noted.
Only a minority of children under age six (about 18,500 children) were able to access highly subsidized care.
“Most families are not benefitting from this agreement,” Mitchell said, noting there are roughly 87,000 children in the province under the age of six.
The study said the province didn’t report all of the expenses associated with the project.
“Regrettably the province did not report on the administrative costs associated with the first year of the Agreement. This is a key omission and a loss for public accountability,” read the report.
The study also claimed the province failed to report how many vulnerable children were transitioned into childcare, despite the target of 150 children.
Mitchell said that some provinces, including Saskatchewan, struggled with implementation because the agreements were made part-way through the year.
“They had a shorter year in which to spend the money.”
He added provinces were given a lot of money to action within a short period of time.
“I also think it is important to remember that the federal government provided this funding with quite a bit of restrictions and directions about how to spend this money.”
Mitchell said each province’s childcare situation is quite different, but they are trying to conform to the same policies.
“It’s a bit of a square peg, round hole situation.”
He noted that other provinces have experienced a similar slow start and the issues seen in Saskatchewan aren’t isolated.
“It’s one thing for the federal government to make these announcements to the provinces, but it is quite another to put them into action,” Mitchell said.
The federal government claimed that Saskatchewan is saving families an estimated $5,220 on childcare per year.
“In a time where families are feeling the high costs of living those savings cannot be overstated,” read a statement from the Government of Canada.
It said the province is on track to meet their target of 28,000 new spaces by 2026.
“The province will create these new childcare spaces in regulated not-for-profit childcare centres, small childcare facilities, and family-based childcare providers.”
The government of Saskatchewan said they remain committed to bettering childcare across the province and said they are working on an action plan with the Federal government.
“In 2021-22, total funding provided under the agreement was $114 million. Of the $114 million, there was $63.4 million unspent in 2021-22 and carried forward and fully spent in 2022-23. The 2023-24 to 2025-26 Action Plan is currently being negotiated with the Federal government. The Action Plan will include initiatives that will be advanced over the next three years,” read a statement from the provincial government.
The statement claimed that from April 1, 2021, to June 30, 2023, there have been 5,710 spaces created, which represents a 32 per cent increase.
“Saskatchewan has invested in the early childhood educator workforce. These include investments into early childhood educator wages, tuition-free post-secondary education, grants to support individuals to take training and public awareness campaigns to encourage more people to join the sector.”
Comments