The 2013 provincial budget continues to affect sectors across Alberta, and childcare is getting a hit starting in April.
The government is cutting the Quality Enhancement Grant which supports accredited centres and day home agencies with $7500.00 annually, and $4000.00 for accredited before and after school programs.
The cuts are going to first affect the childcare centres before parents will feel the impact. Sherry Hunt is the president of the Childrens House Childcare Society, one of the oldest non for profits in Lethbridge, and she says the money lost has to come from somewhere so they will probably have to resort to a fee increase.
Hunt says the choice between fee increase and a loss of child care quality and education is an easy choice for most parents, but not for their wallets. Parents pay $665.00 a month per child currently, and some parents will not be able to cover anymore than that, especially families with more than one child.
Lethbridge-West MLA Greg Weadick says that the cost of childcare in Alberta was one of their biggest concerns and that the sector saw a $5 million dollar increase to $269.7 million and that a large portion of that is going to subsidizing childcare.
“This budget we’ve added $6.7-million dollars into childcare subsidy and actually increased the salary to $50,000,” said Weadick. “So that anyone under $50,000 can get support for children in daycare.”
So lower income households and single parents are getting assisted, but parents and advocates think the government should be doing more.
They think this is the beginning of a large ripple effect that will be felt across the booming province.
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