‘A big decision to make’: Child-care association says many operators troubled by funding changes

Association of Alberta Childcare Entrepreneurs chair Krystal Churcher speaks with Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins about provincial funding changes.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Michael Higgins: How expected was notification that these subsidies might not be available, that this federal provincial program was nearing the limit and would be capped?

Krystal Churcher: Totally unexpected. We knew that there was a ticking deadline for these spaces to be allocated, but there was no real communication from the ministry or any of the departments that there was a timeline as close as May 15 for anyone to prepare.

I think the very last update made on the government’s website said that it was expected possibly summer of 2025 so that’s the level of vague communication that we’ve seen around this by the ministry.

MH: For those businesses getting ready to open new facilities, others expanding existing operations, where does this development leave them?

KC: It leaves them with a big decision to make about what they’re going to do. It will really fall on families, is really where we’re at. If a centre is opening right now as a for-profit model, families won’t have access to the affordability grant funding under that child-care license.

So it’s going to put families in a difficult decision of whether they can afford to pay full price and true market cost for child care at new centres, or if they remain on wait lists hoping for a government funded space.

MH: On the new child care centres themselves, I have to think these grants are built into business plans for small businesses?

KC: It’s horrible. It is absolutely a horrific way to treat your investors and your stakeholders in a space, especially something as critical as child care. Most of us have our houses, our assets, tied to commercial leases in order to be able to open child-care centres.

This is exactly the same thing, on a larger scale, that happened when Alberta signed us into this program back in 2022. I was hoping that we would have learned from that experience that we need to really be transparent and allow people to be informed when making such large investments.

We’re definitely going to see bankruptcies. We’re going to see a lot of duress and financial stress. These financial decisions have been made years ahead of time. It takes nine to 12 months to open a child-care centre, minimum in Alberta, and unfortunately child-care licensing is one of the last steps to doing that.

So I would expect there’s probably hundreds of operators out there that are not in the system yet, that may even have no idea that this has happened. It’s an absolute mess.

MH: Back on that element of parents, especially for those queuing up for these new facilities, have some put down deposits on spaces, maybe building it into their own home budgets?

Where are they left? Is it just a matter of looking for a different option? Is there a different option at this point?

KC: We have an average of a two-to-three-year wait list in Alberta for a child care space right now. It just goes to show you, with this federal program, from the beginning, that parents, families and children are really not at the heart of it.

If they were, a business model like this wouldn’t impact a family’s access to child care or to these supports, like affordability grants. Parents are going to be in a difficult decision, difficult position of what they want to pay, and what they can afford to pay, and if that centre will even still be opening, because I know of a few that are not going to be able to move forward with this.

My inbox is full. I’ve had four conversations today with centres that were expected to open within the next week, that won’t have access to this. So it’s going to have a massive impact, for sure.

MH: How does the element of for-profit versus not-for-profit, weigh into this whole equation?

KC: It is the strongest element of this program. It’s the whole ideology driving the $10/day child-care program. We never experienced anything prior to this where your business model of a for-profit or non-profit, would have impacted your ability for families to access subsidies and supports in your child care centre.

It didn’t exist in Alberta or Canada like that prior to this. So it absolutely is the driving ideology behind this federal program.

MH: This notification arrived in the midst of a provincial government cabinet shuffle. Education Minister Dimitrios Nicolaides now has child care added to his portfolio. What kind of conversation are you prepared to have with him?

KC: I hope a transparent conversation. I don’t know how many different ways that our association can ask the same question. You want child-care operators to invest in child care, you want high quality care for children in Alberta, yet you treat your stakeholders in this way where you’re disregarding their investment.

You’re totally disrespecting them as stakeholders and partners in creating this child-care system. It is not going to be long before quality child-care operators don’t want to be in this space anymore.

I personally don’t know why you would invest in Alberta in child care, and it’s a substantial investment of money and time and education to do all of this when you’re treated this way by your partner in this, which is your provincial government.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see child care operators move to other provinces or other countries and look at those as options before they look in Alberta.