HALIFAX — Nova Scotia's child-care providers are being offered additional funding from the province to help offset a 25 per cent reduction in fees resulting from a new funding deal with Ottawa.
Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development Becky Druhan said Friday the money includes $35 million from the previously announced $605-million federal deal and a new $1-million grant from the provincial government.
Druhan said the one-time grant will cover operational costs for providers who were asked to freeze parent fees in July when the province signed on to the federal child-care agreement.
But key for private operators, who make up the majority of daycare providers in the province, was the announced dropping of a March 18 deadline to sign on to the federal deal. Many objected to the sign-on provisions which essentially required them to become non-profit operations or potentially lose their subsidies.
"We are going to be working with all of our operators to make sure we understand all of their perspectives," Druhan told reporters. "We hear their voice."
Donna Buckland, who co-owns and operates Giant Steps Children's Centre in Upper Tantallon, N.S., said the removal of the signing deadline means the private sector has bought itself at least a year through the consultation process in order to get its concerns addressed.
"We would have had to basically sign a document saying that we would be not-for-profit, and as business owners that's really difficult to swallow," said Buckland. "This is a real turnaround. We at least have more time."
Buckland welcomed the $1-million grant even though she said it will likely barely cover the inflationary costs daycare centres have been struggling with. "It's better than having nothing this year with five per cent inflation looming," she said.
Grant payments ranging from $500 to $16,000 will be distributed to 330 small, medium and large child-care centres across the province under the provincial funding deal.
Druhan said the new funding will be offered to all child-care providers, including licensed centres that were previously unfunded or partially funded. As part of the new agreement, which must be signed by April 1, providers are being asked to accept children into any empty funded spaces.
The province provides the sector with $132.6 million in annual funding, including $54 million for pre-primary and more than $75 million for child care.
Last summer, Nova Scotia and the federal Liberal government signed a deal that would create 9,500 child-care spaces costing $10 a day, on average, by March 2026.
The province announced in January that as part of the deal, parents would see a 25 per cent reduction, on average, in child-care fees as of April 1, that would be retroactive to Jan. 1. Druhan said the reduction means a savings of about $200 per month for parents with a toddler in child care.
Fees are to be reduced to 50 per cent, on average, by the end of this year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 18, 2022.
Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press
