Long Awaited Supports for Alberta’s Children
There remains but two short weeks on the fall sessional schedule before the provincial government is scheduled to break for the holiday season. Fifteen government bills have been tabled on numerous legislative concerns. Overall, this session has produced less than groundbreaking legislation relative to what this UCP government has tabled up until this point, but that hardly means that less-than-significant progress was not made on various issues.
If you are a parent in Alberta, you witnessed significant issues come to a head last week as both the province and federal governments made announcements that will impact young families on long-standing issues being worked on in the background. While the news released is primarily a concern for those raising young children in our province, it would be incorrect to say that the announcements bare no impact on Albertans more generally.
For this issue of The NEWS, this writer will dedicate our front page to last week’s bilateral childcare announcement and what Health Canada’s approval of Pfizer for the 5 – 11 age range means for our province.
A Childcare Deal Months in the Making
When former Minister Bill Morneau resigned from his cabinet post as Minister of Finance for the federal government, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was tasked with delivering perhaps the most important budget the Canadian Government has ever produced. Her mandate – ensure Canadians continue to receive the supports they need to keep their head above water throughout the remainder of the pandemic-fueled recession while simultaneously developing and implementing an economic recovery plan with little certainty about the future.
Of course, Budget 2021 including many of the budget items one would expect, including individual and business supports as Canadians continued to struggle finding work and businesses were facing sustained revenue losses as a result of capacity restrictions. Of course, residents from coast to coast to coast were well aware of the cornerstone of Minister Freeland’s first budget - $10 per day childcare.
For many years, strong arguments have been made that childcare must be made affordable and accessible for an economy to be strengthened. Unsurprisingly, one of the best reasons for this is that it ensures children receive the care they need so both parents can return to work. The more active participants a jurisdiction has in its economy, the stronger it will be. There are many more nuanced arguments we could dive into; but for the purposes of this article, we will focus on the deal that was signed and where we go from here.
However, this is news that many parents in Alberta have been waiting for.
Important to note is that not every detail of the new bilateral agreement is available at the time of writing. On Monday, Children’s Services Minister Rebecca Schulz shared that more information will be released gradually over the next six-weeks (including a federal government action plan). An interview with Postmedia revealed that negotiations ran right until the 11th hour before the historic press conference with the deal being consummated the day prior.
As for what is public knowledge now, here are the key details of the new deal:
• In early 2022, the deal will reduce the fees parents pay for children 0 to kindergarten by an average of 50% by acting as a subsidy;
• $10/day fees will be achieved by 2025-26;
• A minimum of 42,500 new licensed child care spaces over the next five years;
• $306.16 million for professional development and wage top ups.
Once the $10/day is in full effect, it is expected that the program’s income thresholds will be as follows:
• Less than $119,000 = $10/day
• $120,000 - $179,999 = $11 - $17/day
• More than $180,000 = $22.19/day
There were a number of reasons Alberta was such a late signatory to the bilateral agreement, and those grievances were never sheltered from the public. The provincial government aired concerns about a lack of flexibility in the plan as outlined by the federal government. There were also questions raised about why the deal would be structured as a subsidy rather than a tax rebate.
Another sticking point from the province was a desire for Alberta’s deal to be structured in a similar fashion to the agreement Quebec signed. In August, the federal government agreed to what amounts to, essentially, a conditionless transfer of funds. Premier Jason Kenney expressed his frustration that La Belle Province once again got special treatment, referring to Canada as a “two-tiered federation”. However, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended the decision, saying that Quebec already had a system in place that closely resembled the federal deal.
"It's not about treating one province differently. If Alberta already had child care at $8/day across the province, we would have had an approach similar to Quebec. So, let's not create constitutional conventions out of this." - Prime Minister Justin Trudeayu
As referenced earlier in this article, there will be additional details coming out about the bilateral deal, so make sure you stay tuned to stay in the know.
Health Canada Gives Go-Ahead for 5-11 Vaccination
Up until last week, only Canadians that are 12 years of age or older were eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccines that have been approved by Health Canada. Here in Alberta, that meant that only 85 per cent of residents have been eligible (at the time of writing, 70.5 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated). Now, you can add another 8.85 per cent to the eligible population.
Last week, Health Canada has given final approval to the pediatric Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use across the country in children 5 to 11 years of age. Moderna has also submitted an application for its pediatric vaccine to be approved for use in Canada. This news means approximately 391,584 children in that age range living in Alberta can be vaccinated.
Parents of eligible youth are able to book their child's appointment today with first doses being administered starting on Friday. Premier Jason Kenney has indicated that the 5-11 age group will not be required to participate in the Restrictions Exemption Program.
Additionally, it was announced that students will not be forced to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in order to receive an in-person education.
“If parents, for one reason or another, choose not to have their children receive a COVID-19 vaccine, that should not be held against their kids and their chances of learning.” -Premier Jason Kenney
The first delivery of pediatric vaccines landed on our soil this weekend with an estimated 2.9 million due to arrive before the end of this week. At the time of writing, 174 schools in Alberta are experiencing active COVID-19 alerts (2-4 or 5-9 active cases) or outbreaks (10 or more active cases). From the information available, it seems that children will be vaccinated in clinical settings, not in pop-up clinics in their schools.
Other provinces including Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario have all outlined their full vaccine-rollout plans. It is expected Alberta will follow suit later this week, perhaps as early as Tuesday when Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, is scheduled to address the province next.
At the time of writing, approximately 94 per cent are now vaccine-eligible.