Sask. daycare highlights problems of current childcare system as province negotiates $10 a day extension

WATCH: A rural daycare is highlighting concerns with the $10 a day program as Sask. continues to negotiate with the federal government about an extension.

After meeting the introduction of $10 a day daycare legislation with excitement, Sheldon McLean is now worried about the future of the centre he helps operate in Plenty, Sask.

When the province announced two years ago that parent fees for regulated childcare in the province will be reduced to $10 a day, he felt the system was rushed and work needed to be done.

McLean says many of the concerns brought up by operators haven’t been solved.

“A lot of the issues that have come up have been kind of short-sightedness, knee jerk reaction,” McLean said. “They threw it in there and then we had to figure it out from there.”

McLean’s main concerns are the issues a rural operator serving a population of roughly 500 people faces.

As inflation and several expenses have increased year over year, income is limited.

McLean says Little Legacy Learning in Plenty ran a deficit budget last year. After raising enough money to potentially buy the building it operated in, McLean says money may not make it to 2027 at this rate.

Minimum wage increased by more than 13 per cent as the wage grid Little Legacy must adhere to increased by six per cent. Utilities, food, taxes and interest rates also cost the business more, on top of a landlord wanting to raise the rent.

However, the daycare can only request a three per cent increase in income from the federal government.

“Our hands have been tied on what we can charge and what we can bring in for income,” McLean said. “Our community is too small to do a massive fundraising event, which we still have to do because we would like to buy the building to isolate that cost.”

Providing food is an additional cost, but the daycare would lose $10 a day certification if food wasn’t offered. With a limited pool of employees to draw from, the daycare can’t have everyone fully certified under necessary programs, further exacerbating expenses.

Saskatchewan is one of two provinces that has not signed an extension of the federal daycare program. Education Minister Everett Hindley says the province was sent an email from the federal government last month and was given two weeks to renegotiate.

While he suspects the province will extend its agreement to at least 2031, he says reasons like McLean’s is why the province continues to work on a deal.

“If we get a chance to redo this again, there’s some things we would like to tweak,” Hindley said Wednesday during SARM’s annual convention.

“We need to make sure that it is sustainable. That does work for families and it does work for communities.”

McLean is pleased to know the province isn’t rushing in like it did last time, but he hopes it’s more than just a quote for the news.

“Who are they talking to and how much of that is actually happening?” McLean said.

McLean says the circumstances Plenty faces are different than that of Saskatoon or Regina. If the daycare were to close, the next closest location is roughly 45 kilometres away, but it has a lengthy waitlist and little flexibility like Little Legacy can offer.

Sue Delanoy, the chairperson of Childcare Now Saskatchewan, says the system needs work, but the province also needs to extend its agreement.

“We still need to also hear about a funding model that works for absolutely everybody,” she said.

“But walking away from the money and the opportunity that comes with resigning this deal is devastating to this province and to the families.”

Without any changes, McLean says Little Legacy will be lucky to stay in business through the end of next year as the board desperately tries to avoid laying off 13 workers and leaving more than 20 families without childcare.

“It’s gone from, ‘hey, we need to keep our daycare open’ to everyone needs to understand the position the $10 a day daycare put the communities in, the workers in and the centers, in. And now we need a way out of it or a way forward,” McLean said.

The province’s current deal expires at the end of March in 2026.