Close X
Saturday, November 23, 2024
ADVT 
National

Feds, Alberta sign child-care deal

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 23 Jul, 2020 10:07 PM
  • Feds, Alberta sign child-care deal

The federal Liberals and Alberta's United Conservatives have agreed on a one-year extension to child-care funding that will also help offset costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For Alberta, the one-year deal will mean more than $45 million this fiscal year to create new licensed child-care spaces through capital and program grants and subsidies for more lower-income families.

The provincial government is also planning to use $4.7 million of the funding for training.

The province says there is $10 million leftover in funding from its previous deal with Ottawa that is being rolled over to help centres offset costs associated with COVID-19 closures and reopening to help programs remain financially viable.

The money is part of a 10-year, $7-billion funding pledge the Trudeau Liberals unveiled in 2017 — not the $625-million, eight-month pledge the Liberals have made under a "safe restart" agreement with provinces.

Money to provinces flows through one-on-one agreements that originally lasted three years, worth about $1.2 billion in federal funding.

Both levels of government planned to signed renewed deals this year, but that was before the pandemic struck.

All parties agreed to roll over the funding for another year to buy more time for longer-term deals, meaning Ottawa would ship about $400 million to provinces this fiscal year.

Social Development Minister Ahmed Hussen is scheduled to make an announcement Friday morning in Ottawa about the "safe restart" money.

Earlier this week, Hussen told The Canadian Press the pandemic money for child care matched what provinces, territories and child-care experts pitched to help the sector manage the immediate costs of COVID-19.

He added the pandemic money will be aimed at helping daycares pay for protectiv

MORE National ARTICLES

Tories seek Trudeau family's speaking records

Tories seek Trudeau family's speaking records
A second House of Commons committee is debating whether to probe the aborted deal between the federal government and WE Charity to run a massive student-volunteering program.

Tories seek Trudeau family's speaking records

Delay unreasonable in murder case: top court

Delay unreasonable in murder case: top court
The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld a judge's decision to halt a murder case because of excessive delay, even though the accused man was long ago deported from Canada.

Delay unreasonable in murder case: top court

Morneau to unveil wage subsidy changes

Morneau to unveil wage subsidy changes
Finance Minister Bill Morneau will outline today how the federal government is reshaping its emergency wage-subsidy program that has been extended to the end of the year.

Morneau to unveil wage subsidy changes

COVID-19 Outbreak in the Neonatal Unit at St. Paul's Hospital

COVID-19 Outbreak in the Neonatal Unit at St. Paul's Hospital
According to a release from Vancouver Coastal Health an outbreak of COVID-19 has taken place in the NICU at St. Paul's Hospital. The NICU is designed for newborns at the hospital. 

COVID-19 Outbreak in the Neonatal Unit at St. Paul's Hospital

Women on Surrey bus receives threats of sexual violence

Women on Surrey bus receives threats of sexual violence
Metro Vancouver Transit Police say a woman travelling on a Surrey bus received multiple threats of sexual violence. According to Transit Police the woman was on a bus that had just departed Newton Exchange with about 15 other passengers on July 14 around 11 pm when she received the threatening messages to her phone via AirDrop.

Women on Surrey bus receives threats of sexual violence

B.C. sets one-month overdose death record

B.C. sets one-month overdose death record
Another record for monthly overdose deaths related to illicit drugs has been set in British Columbia, prompting the former provincial health officer to call for radical steps to reduce fatalities including access to pharmaceutical-grade heroin produced in Canada.

B.C. sets one-month overdose death record