Daycare owners say policy change could put them out of business

Above watch: A policy change by the New Brunswick government has daycares worried about their financial future. Alex Abdelwahab reports.

MONCTON -Daycare operators and parents are concerned a Liberal government policy change could force many daycares to shut their doors.

Maureen Hennessy has been operating Little Dreamers Playcentre in Moncton for 20 years. She says she doesn’t do it for the money, but because she loves the kids.

She told Global News a change in the eligibility to the province’s Quality Improvement Financial Support program, means that as of June 1, she’ll have to manage with $12,000 less a year.

“It’s not going to be good, unfortunately,” she said. “But I will carry on as far as I can.”

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The provincial program provides subsidies to daycare workers to top-up their income. Workers with early childhood education qualifications or a university degree are eligible for $5 an hour. Workers without those qualifications are eligible for $3.07 an hour.

Until now, owner/operators were able to apply for the subsidy themselves, as long as they spent at least 75 per cent of their time working directly with kids.

“The government thinks we’re profiting so much from being a for-profit daycare,” Hennessy said. “It’s just not that way.”

Hennessy said the money she got from the subsidy went directly into the operation of her daycare, and without it she doesn’t know if she’ll be able to keep running.

Guylaine Landry operates two daycares in Moncton: Bella’s House and Building Future. She will lose about $10,000 a year with the change.

She says the biggest problem is that the government gave operators no warning before changing the eligibility. They’re mistaken, she says, if they think the money was going directly into the pockets of owners.

“I might have to shut down,” she said, explaining it was either that or raise fees for parents. “The parents, I don’t think they’ll be happy about that.”

The eligibility change was included in the provincial budget. It affects the operators of for-profit daycares in New Brunswick. Of the 782 licenced daycares in New Brunswick, 542 are for-profit. The government has said the change puts eligibility in line with the provincial daycare assistance program, and federal employment insurance program, as neither are available to private business owners.

“The intention of the program was basically to give money to employees,” said Serge Rousselle, Minister responsible for Early Childhood Development. “To recruit them, to maintain them in the job.”

Jenna Morton is the parent of three children under five, and her oldest child is currently in daycare. She said she doesn’t know yet what will happen with her daughter’s daycare, and many parents she’s spoken with are also concerned.

Morton said the first daycare her daughter attended closed and it was very stressful to find a replacement. If it happens again, she said, she will likely just keep her kids at home. But she knows that’s not a possibility for all parents.