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Premier Scott Moe says Saskatchewan will sign a renewed deal with Ottawa to extend the federally subsidized $10-a-day child care program.
The deal will secure funding until March 2031.
“I’m happy to say that we have come to an agreement with the federal government. We will be renewing that five-year agreement and we’ll be signing that Friday,” Moe said during question period Wednesday.
The existing five-year agreement — covering subsidized daycare fees and wage enhancements for early childhood educators — was set to expire in March 2026. Saskatchewan and Alberta are the only two provinces yet to finalize the extension.
Advocates, staff and parents say the uncertainty has been stressful, but the announcement is a huge relief.
Relieved mother
Regina mom Shayla Dietrich, who has two children in subsidized daycare, said she is “relieved and glad” that the province has secured the agreement.
“As a parent, like 100 per cent, like very excited, very relieved,” she said in an interview. “As a working mom, there’s always that stress over your head a little bit, like is this coming? Is this something I have to deal with? Can my family manage that?”
She said affordable child care is a women’s equality issue because without it, women often get forced out of work.
“Moms have enough challenges. Coming up with more cash for daycare or being forced out of the workforce shouldn’t be one of them.”
Child-care worker excited to stay in the job
Nicole Wall, an early-childhood educator at Play & Discover Early Learning Centre in Regina, said she and her colleagues have been feeling uncertain whether they could continue working as child-care workers.
“I’m excited to hear that there’s actually going to be a plan put into place,” Wall said. “I know that a lot of us were kind of feeling left in limbo and people were actually starting to put feelers out to find new jobs in different fields.”
Wall said the existing agreement includes wage enhancements tied to the $10-a-day program. If the deal had expired, without a new one including the wage enhancement, educators risked losing $5 to $7 an hour — which she and many others could not afford.
“Which is absurd, for lack of a better word. I have been in the field for 17 years and I might have to start looking for something else,” she said.
“If they were going to cut my wage back, I couldn’t stay in the industry any longer. Prior to the wage enhancement, I had a second job, and I got rid of that. And I don’t really want to go back to that because our job is such a high-demand job,” she said.
Wall said there will be a sense of relief across the board.
