Care centers at $ 10: Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan in search of a new agreement

In March, a few days before his departure, the former Canadian-Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he had signed an extension of the federal daycare program agreement with 10 of the 13 provinces and territories. Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan are the three provinces that are missing on the call and the deadline for signing this extension has now passed, says Ottawa.

The agreements on learning and childcare of young children set up by Ottawa in 2021 were intended to finance early childhood services to create 250,000 places in daycare at an average cost of $ 10 per day in the country. The agreement expires on March 31, 2026.

From the start, Alberta and Saskatchewan refused to sign the extension as proposed by Ottawa, wishing to negotiate in better terms.

For its part, although Ontario has signed an agreement in principle stipulating that it wishes to continue to apply the reduction in parental costs, the provincial authorities have declared that the current financing structure would leave the province run by $ 10 billion over a five -year period.

On February 6, Ottawa sent a letter to each provincial and territorial government to the country called them to sign the extension of the agreement on the table and they had until February 21 to sign. A deadline deemed too short to discuss by Saskatchewan by Scott Moe.

Questioned by Radio-Canada on the reasons which prevented them from signing this extension, the government of Scott Moe repeats wanting a better agreement. On the other hand, according to the Saskatchewan, the federally is closed to any modification of the agreement.

The federal government indicated that only an extension of the current agreement was envisaged at this stage, and that there would be no room for changes or negotiations of any kind concerning the agreementindicates the provincial government.

The Minister of Education Saskatchewanese, Everett Hindley, would try to organize a meeting with federal representatives to discuss a new agreement before March 31, 2026, but without success.

The Albertan government claims to be in discussions with Ottawa and also hopes to find an agreement before the expiration of the current agreement.

Negotiate, but at what price?

For the first phase of the federal daycare program, launched in 2021, Ottawa had invested $ 27 billion over 5 years and agreed with the 13 provinces and territories.

However, the signing of the extension which occurred at a time of political uncertainty in Ottawa, a few days before the departure of the ex-Canadian Minister Justin Trudeau, would not have helped to convince the governments of Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan.

According to the director of the Institute of Canadian Studies of McGill, Daniel Béland, it is not surprising to see the governments of Alberta and Ontario once again in disagreement with Ottawa. It is more difficult for these provinces to negotiate with a liberal governmenthe explains.

On the other hand, there is a real need to sign an agreement with the Federal as soon as possible, this agreement helping to pay for the employment of thousands of Canadians. There is a cost to drag things on the ground, the pressure risesestimates the political scientist.

Building in yet another standoff with the federal government may seem like a good strategy to keep its electoral base, but which has the big end herequestions Daniel Béland.

For his part, Daniel McGrane, professor of political science at the University of Saskatchewan, insists on the need to sign an agreement as soon as possible, in particular to ensure the retention of day care employees while uncertainty hovers for these workers.

With information from Raphaëlle Simonnot