NEWS PHOTO CHRIS BROWN The John Millar Child Development Centre in Crestwood is one of four daycares in the city that will begin offering $25-per-day services starting this spring as part of a provincial program to expand affordable childcare.
Four daycares in Medicine Hat are among 100 in the province that will begin offering $25-per-day services starting this spring as part of a provincial program to expand affordable childcare.
Two local YMCA-run centres — the John Millar and Crescent Heights child development centres — as well as Mother Nature’s Preschool and Pitter Patter Child Development, are among 82 that were announced at a morning press conference in Edmonton. There will be 225 spaces in Medicine Hat.
The other 18 centres will be announced later this year, bringing the total number of new spaces to 6,000.
Premier Rachel Notley said the major expansion is paid for mostly by a new bilateral agreement signed with the federal government this month.
“It’s a major step towards working toward universal $25 per day childcare in this province,” she said, citing figures that savings could equal $425 per month for parents while creating 400 child care jobs.
“People should not have to choose between their children and their careers.”
The announcement grows on a pilot program that included 22 centres announced last year based on vacancy rates and other factors. None were located in Medicine Hat.
This week’s announcement also includes the Taber Child Care Centre and four facilities in Lethbridge.
Facilities could begin the program as soon as next month, said Children Services Minister Danielle Larivee.
She said the results of the pilot are still being researched “for what it looks like in different communities” and the results will be fully examined at the one-year stage this autumn.
Notley said further expansion is “the No.1 priority” for her government as the province’s finances improve.
“It’s singularly the best way to grow the economy,” she said. “We’re trying to significantly raise the quality of care that’s available across the province.”
