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By Erika Rolling
Federal Funding

ACE Chair reacts to federal $15 a day childcare extension in Alberta

Dec 18, 2025 | 1:41 PM

Early learning and childcare centres in Alberta will continue to have fees of $15 per day per child until 2027.

The extension of the current deal between the province and federal government has Alberta receiving $1.17 billion in funding for children kindergarten age and younger in daycare and family day-home programs.

The province says these investments will continue to pay about 80 per cent of child-care costs on behalf of Alberta families, saving an estimated $11,000 per child each year.

As a part of the deal, 5,000 more for-profit childcare spaces are eligible for federal funding.

Chair of the Association of Canadian Early Learning Programs (ACE), Krystal Churcher, says for parents and operators, this extension gives some relief.

“I think there is a bit of disappointment across the sector, and maybe with some families too, that there isn’t more of a change or support for lower-income families and families that really need affordable childcare.”

Churcher says it’s a win for for-profit childcare spaces to be included, but says 5,000 is simply not enough.

“It’s a drop in the bucket. When they shut down the for-profit expansion in May (2025), there were 20,000 spaces in the queue, for-profit, that were at different stages of being ready to open.”

She says the whole federal program “is a letdown.”

“I think the province has done maybe the best they could with the parameters of the federal agreement, and we are grateful to see any for-profit spaces, but in the reality of what childcare looks like on the ground… 5,000 isn’t going to make any kind of significant impact on access or support for the sector.”

Churcher says that the original promise was $10 per day childcare universally, but has since changed to $10 per day on average.

In Alberta, Churcher says the need for childcare spaces is lower than it was compared to a year ago, thanks to the creation of 28,000 for-profit spaces province-wide.

In Grande Prairie, she says, after speaking with an operator in the city, that waitlists remain high, especially after a 24-hour childcare centre closed.

“That’s a significant hit to shift workers and flexible care options for the community, too.”

She says to make a successful path forward, the province needs to speak with operators and stakeholders in every region to understand the demand and needs.

On a different note, she says Saskatchewan’s deal with the federal government, reversing its non-profit-only funding policy and including licensed for-profit operators, is a step in the right direction.

by Erika Rolling