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News & Stories: Policy Monitor

September 22, 2020

Excerpt: "Today, the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development announced that the Government of Alberta will receive $72 million of the $625 million in federal support for Canada’s child care sector to help ensure that safe and sufficient child care is available to support parents’ gradual return to work. This funding is in addition to the $45 million Alberta is receiving through the 2020-21 Canada-Alberta Early Learning and Child Care Bilateral Agreement to support child care programs and services for Alberta families."
December 9, 2020

Excerpt: "HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta enacts as follows: Amends SA 2007 cC-10.5 (1) The Child Care Licensing Act is amended by this Act."
July 23, 2021

Excerpt: "Through the agreement, the Government of Canada is providing over $290 million in funding over 4 years to Alberta to improve access to high quality, affordable, flexible, and inclusive early learning and child care programs and services."
September 28, 2021

Excerpt: "This document is a reference guide for the official grant agreement between licensed child care programs in Alberta and the Alberta government. This document outlines the process, eligibility, conditions and accountability requirements for eligible licensed facility-based programs and licensed family day home agencies to access grant funding from the Alberta government for wage top-ups and professional development."
November 8, 2021

Excerpt: "Funding to support the sector includes: $20.57 million for a child care staff recovery and retention program to help attract and retain qualified and certified educators to the sector, and to acknowledge long-term staff who have worked throughout the pandemic; Approximately $15 million in unspent (due to lower than expected enrolment and expenditures) bilateral funding from the federal government for COVID-19 relief to further support operators as quickly as possible."
November 15, 2021

Excerpt: "The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and the Premier of Alberta, Jason Kenney, today announced that both governments have reached an agreement that will support an average of $10 a day care in the province, significantly reducing the price of child care for families. The agreement includes creating 42,500 new regulated early learning and child care spaces by the end of March 2026. With federal funding of almost $3.8 billion over the next five years, Alberta will also see a 50 per cent reduction in average parent fees for children under the age of six in regulated child care by the end of 2022."
February 24, 2022

Excerpt: "Following through on child care: Budget 2022 provides $666 million in operating expense funding in 2022-23 for a total of over $2.6 billion dollars by 2024-25 in support of the child care agreement with the federal government; Since the program was announced, Alberta parents are already experiencing lower costs, with the price of child care targeted to average $10 per day by 2026; To ensure families can choose the child care that works best for them, 42,500 new licensed child care spaces will be added over the next five years; The Alberta Child and Family Benefit also provides up to $5,120 annually to lower income families."
April 20, 2022

Excerpt: "In response to the learning loss identified in a pilot during the 2021-22 school year and the Child and Youth Well-being Review Panel recommendations, school authorities will now be required to administer literacy and numeracy screening assessments, selected from an approved list, starting in September 2022. The implementation of language and math assessments for students in grades 1 to 3 was one of the Alberta government’s key platform commitments. Fulfilling this commitment, while also addressing COVID-19-related learning loss, will ensure both parents and teachers understand and assess progress in the critical early years to help struggling learners. Many other provinces already collect assessment information about students at this age."
April 28, 2022

Excerpt: "As part of Alberta’s approach to supporting inclusive child care, an additional $3.6 million in funding is being provided through a bilateral agreement with the federal government, bringing the investment to $7 million. Funding will go to five regional partner agencies across Alberta. These agencies will work with licensed child care operators so they can better support children with special needs. Continuing on the work they have done over the past few years, $2.7 million is also being invested into GRIT to continue training on their inclusive child care model across the province."
May 16, 2022

Excerpt: "Alberta agrees to use funds provided by Canada under this Agreement to support the expansion of licensed child care, and prioritize not-for-profit (including publically delivered and family day home child care) early learning and child care programs and services,for children 0 to K, where: licensed programs and services are defined as those that meet standards that are established and/or monitored by Alberta; not-for-profit providers/operations, which includes publically delivered operations, are defined as those that provide child care services to a community for a purpose other than generating a profit, typically improving family and/or child well being and/or development. Providers may generate a profit, but the surplus earnings, or other resources, are directed towards improving child care services rather than distributed for the personal benefit of owners, members, investors or to enhance asset growth. Early learning and child care programs and services are defined as those supporting direct care and early learning for children in settings including, but not limited to, regulated child care centres, regulated family child care homes, early learning centres, preschools and nursery schools."
July 7, 2022

Excerpt: "The $50 million is being invested to increase the number of non-profit child-care spaces especially in communities with limited or no licensed child care, or in communities where there is a high demand for service. This funding is provided through the Alberta Canada Early Learning and Child Care agreement. The made-in-Alberta agreement invests $3.8 billion of federal funding over five years to strengthen child care for families by improving access to quality child care and lowering fees for parents with children kindergarten-aged and younger who access licensed child care."
August 3, 2022

Excerpt: "Funding of $5.2 million is being provided to the Association of Early Childhood Educators of Alberta (AECEA) and the Alberta Resource Centre for Quality Enhancement (ARCQE) that will give early childhood educators opportunities to enhance their understanding of early childhood brain science and childhood development. These organizations will use the funding to train educators and reimburse them for their training time."