Alberta on Monday became the most recent province to join the federal universal child care program at $ 10 a day.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Alberta counterpart Jason Kenney made the announcement Monday in Edmonton.
The agreement provides $ 3.8 billion in federal funding over the next five years. Child care rates in Alberta are to be cut in half by next year and down to an average of $ 10 per day by 2026.
Mr. Kenney indicated that under the agreement, all types of licensed child care centers will be eligible for grants, up to kindergarten. Parents’ choice of type of child care had indeed been a sticking point in the negotiations between Ottawa and Alberta.
The Liberal government of Justin Trudeau announced last spring a five-year plan of 30 billion to establish partnerships with the provinces, territories and aboriginal communities. This program aims to provide universal child care, the cornerstone of an initiative to help families and the economy.
Different agreements
A handful of provinces and territories, including Ontario, have yet to sign an agreement with Ottawa.
Quebec, which already has its own subsidized child care system, obtained from Ottawa a federal transfer of $ 6 billion over five years last summer to improve its network.
Mr. Kenney admitted Monday that he would have liked to obtain “the same flexibility” that Quebec obtained, in an asymmetric agreement, without conditions.
“The choice for Alberta, at the end of the day, was to leave almost $ 4 billion on the table, or take this money that belongs to the taxpayers of Alberta,” he explained Monday morning at a press conference. “But I think, as often, we see a two-tier federation, and that is one of the reasons Albertans are concerned about the federation,” Kenney said.
Mr. Trudeau then explained that it was not a question of favoritism: “Quebec already has child care spaces at $ 8.50”, he said. “It is not a question of the Constitution or of a two-tier federation: it is a question of targets that we want to achieve for families. “