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After years of explosive population growth, inadequate government funding and worker shortages, daycare operators and public advocacy groups are giving the Alberta government’s recently unveiled multimillion-dollar child-care plan mixed reviews. Set to launch this September, the sorely needed $242-million injection will create 14,000 new child-care spaces in three years, increase staff wages by up to 60 per cent, provide new subsidies for low and middle-class families, and grant daycare operators with direct funding for infant care spaces for the first time in over a decade.

The new subsidy program for parents will work on an income-based scale, which depending on the number and age of children, and gross family income, gives recipients a maximum of $628 a month per infant and $528 per preschooler. A two-parent family with an infant and a preschooler and a gross annual income of $39,600 would qualify for a subsidy of $1,156 a month. However, according to Stats Canada, in 2005 the median family income in Alberta sat at $76,526, thus rendering most families ineligible for little if any subsidies. “They’re talking about increasing subsidies but the reality is that those subsidies are only for low-income people the vast majority of families will not ever be eligible for those subsidies,” says NDP MLA Rachel Notley. “It still puts us below the national average in terms of the amount of money per capita being spent on daycare.” According to the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU), the province spent $1,093 per child-care space in 2005-2006, the lowest amount in Canada, while the national average was $3,259.

With more than 20 years working in the child-care industry and advocating to both federal and provincial governments, Tanya Szarko, owner and operator of Bow Valley Child Care Centre, is pleased the Stelmach government has addressed the need for more child-care funding. “It’s a big plan to roll out and a lot of funds to allocate to try to get them into the right spot, but I’m really excited about it,” she says. Just prior to the announcement of the new plan, Szarko was considering closing down Bow Valley’s second infant-care room because of the high cost associated with infant care. “We technically run infant rooms at a loss,” she says. But with $150 per month for each infant care space now going directly to operators’ centres, she says the cost will be manageable.

Noreen Murphy, executive director of the non-profit Churchill Park Family Care Society, agrees the plan is a step in the right direction, especially the money allocated to operational costs for infant care, but adds, “It’s almost like throwing water on the fire with a bucket instead of a hose after the fire has engulfed the building.”

In Alberta’s booming economy, attracting and retaining trained staff has been an issue for daycare operators. In recognition of the problem, the province will be increasing wage top-ups for those working in licensed daycares. However, in order to qualify for the maximum top-up of $6.62, a worker requires a level three certificate and must work in an accredited centre, which will leave those working in licensed centres unable to take advantage of the full increase. Murphy contends the government should have attached a living wage – often considered to be $12 an hour in Alberta — requirement to the wage top-up. Without a base salary condition, an unscrupulous daycare operator could reduce how much they pay staff and appropriate the difference. “Without basic minimums, this [wage top-up] could be $6.62 on top of $5.80,” she says.

The announcement shows the government recognizes there is a crisis says Bill Moore-Kilgannon, executive director of Public Interest Alberta, but he agrees with Murphy that it fails to address a number of issues, largely the commercialization of daycares. “There is absolutely nothing in this announcement to make sure that huge amounts of dollars will not be going to subsidize and expand a giant for-profit child-care corporation structure in Alberta,” he says. “This is a very good news announcement for the big corporations because they’re going to profit from it heavily and there’s nothing in this announcement that will ensure that the money is not going to increase profits.”

According to Cathy Ducharme, spokesperson for Alberta Children Youth Services, the province is only interested in creating more spaces in both non-profit and for-profit centres, and as long as a centre is participating in the accreditation program, all of the benefits are available to either. “We give the same funding to programs that are demonstrating quality programming,” says Ducharme. “We treat for-profit and not-for-profit exactly the same so I don’t know what their fear is about it not supporting the not-for-profit.”

A number of studies have shown that non-profit centres consistently outperform for-profit centres in many areas, from higher staff-to-child ratios, higher staff wages and the employment of better educated staff. For-profits tend to experience higher staff turnover rates and spend a smaller portion of their budget on wages and employ less trained staff. With no shareholder interest, non-profit centres often reinvest surpluses into the operations of the facility and its staff, while profits made at a for-profit centre go into the pocket of the owner or shareholders. “Because of the business model, the quality of the child care has to be better if you’re looking at equally well-run businesses,” says Murphy. “Everybody says this is a free market and [daycare workers] can go to the better places, but the better places already have the staff that they need. People who want to make more money and want to work in a better place a lot of times are stuck in low quality daycares making lower amounts of money.”

Along with the wage top-ups, the government has also expanded its incentive allowance for daycare workers, which includes a one-time payment of $2,500 after one year of employment, and a new $2,500 scholarship for high school students enrolled in a post-secondary childhood education program. Notley, however, says the wage top-ups and incentives are not a long-term solution to staff shortages. “If you want people to have the kind of accreditation that they’re talking about, you can’t ask people to do a one-or two-year early childhood education program and tell them that when they’re out in a year or two they’re going to earn $18 an hour,” she says. “That’s not a mortgage-paying job.”