Families are eager to pay less when it comes to parent fees for child care in Saskatchewan.
Earlier this month, the Saskatchewan government announced reductions for parent fees for regulated child care in the province to $10 a day starting April 1, 2023.
When one Regina mother first heard the news, she thought it would be beneficial for parents who work full-time positions, including herself.
“I’m always excited to save some money,” said Jessica Dauncey. “Working a full-time position and you’re giving up more than half of your check to child care, it puts a strain on everything.”
Dauncey’s four-year-old daughter, Mercy, goes to the Child Care Centre Co-operative Daycare located on College Avenue. She said the province has taken a step in the right direction.
Director Charlene Third said when she first heard about the daycare fee announcement, she thought it would never happen.
“When it became (a) reality, I thought that it would seriously impact our daycare funds (but that’s) not the case,” she said. “That was my first reaction.”
Daycares get the funding from parents’ fees and government grants. The government provides a parent reduction fee grant and Third said daycares will not be losing any money because of the fee reduction.
The Child Care Centre Co-operative’s full-time fees are $690 a month. But with the new government subsidy, parents will pay $217.50 a month and the government will reimburse the daycares the remaining costs.
However, parents who use daycare services on a part-time basis may lose their spaces next month.
The news does not sit well for Saskatchewan official Opposition Leader Carla Beck and Childcare and Early Learning Critic Meara Conway, who laid into premier’s “botched rollout” of $10-a-day childcare.
“Leave it to Scott Moe to bungle an idea as good as ten-dollar-a-day childcare,” said Beck in a media release. “Moe already has the worst jobs record in Canada, and now moms who work part-time are being told they’re no longer eligible for the childcare spaces they’ve relied on for years.
“It’s typical of Scott Moe’s Sask. Party government to overpromise and underdeliver.”
Members of the Saskatchewan NDP were joined on March 15, 2023, at the Legislature by those operating licensed child care spaces who say the daycare fees announcement will force centres to kick kids attending part-time off of their attendance rolls next month.
According to a release, the current wait for full-time spots at daycare centres can be more than a year and that they were not consulted about the implementation of the recent announcement.
“Unless this government gets their act together and starts listening to childcare providers, families will be waiting months, maybe even years, for a ten-dollar spot,” stated Conway. “Moe rushed the childcare rollout just for a flashy headline and now childcare providers and parents are being left in the lurch.”
The new daycare fees are applicable for children who are six years old and younger.