Sask. not among provinces signed on to $10-a-day child care extension

Saskatchewan was out nearly on its own Thursday, when the federal government announced agreements to extend the Early Learning and Child Care program, which provides for $10-a-day daycare.

Eleven of the 13 provinces and territories had already signed on to an extension to the agreement out to 2031 – the holdouts were Saskatchewan and Alberta.

The current agreements expire on March 31, 2026, and each province negotiates its own agreement.

Read more:

• North Central child care centre faces ‘funding crisis’ over $10-a-day child care
• $10-a-day child-care switch leaves some with mixed feelings
• New daycare plan could put part-time and drop-in care in a timeout

The extensions bring the programs out to 2031 and increases funding by three per cent every year for four years starting in 2027-28.

The funding amounts being provided to the provinces and territories over five years for the extensions range from $74 million to Yukon, to $16.77 billion to Ontario.

The federal government estimates, that through the first years of the program in Saskatchewan, parents saw an average of $6,900 in savings per child annually. It said 16,265 spaces have been created since 2021 and the target is to get to 28,000 spaces in the next year.

The extension also includes infrastructure money for the 2026-27 year from the Early Learning and Child Care Fund to support infrastructure projects in underserved communities – that includes
rural and remote areas, high-cost and low-income urban neighbourhoods, and communities with barriers to access.

The Government of Saskatchewan said in a statement, the federal government gave a two-week ultimatum to sign an extension with no room for changes or additions.

The province said negotiation of an extension to the agreement needs to include terms from other provinces’ agreements and flexibility to address before and after school programs – it said the offer from the federal government didn’t include those things.

“There are things in other provincial agreements that we would like to explore as well as issues raised by Saskatchewan operators that we would like to address with the extension of the agreement,” read the statement.

Government said it’s ready to negotiate in good faith, that it’s been trying to, but the other side doesn’t seem to be willing.

The Sask. Opposition NDP said the lack of a signed agreement extension is the Sask. Party government ignoring a childcare crisis.

“They should be ashamed,” said Joan Pratchler, NDP critic for child care and early learning.

The NDP said families and communities will be left scrambling without the funding in this agreement.

“The Sask. Party needs to stop hiding and do its job,” said Pratchler. “The Sask. Party must immediately sign the childcare deal and save these jobs.”