Close X
Thursday, October 31, 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

Police probe apparent death of Quebec father

Police probe apparent death of Quebec father
Many questions remain unanswered in the case of a Quebec father whose body was found hours after the funeral for his two young daughters.

Police probe apparent death of Quebec father

Prepare for hybrid Commons: committee

Prepare for hybrid Commons: committee
The parliamentary committee that oversees the way the House of Commons works says the chamber should spend the summer getting ready for MPs to participate and vote from outside Ottawa.

Prepare for hybrid Commons: committee

B.C. tourism industry sets COVID revival plan

B.C. tourism industry sets COVID revival plan
British Columbia's tourism and hospitality sector believes it should receive more than one-third of a $1.5-billion COVID-19 recovery package pledged to the province by the federal government.

B.C. tourism industry sets COVID revival plan

ICBC launches online booking system for office driver licensing appointments

ICBC launches online booking system for office driver licensing appointments
Starting today, ICBC is moving to an appointment-based system for most driver licensing office transactions. 

ICBC launches online booking system for office driver licensing appointments

No more cotton candy vaping products for youth, B.C. to restrict sales

No more cotton candy vaping products for youth, B.C. to restrict sales
The British Columbia government has followed through on a promise to try to stop young people from vaping with regulations that prevent the sale of products that taste like anything but nicotine.

No more cotton candy vaping products for youth, B.C. to restrict sales

Punch thrown at a Port Coquitlam intersection between a pedestrian and a passenger

Punch thrown at a Port Coquitlam intersection between a pedestrian and a passenger
Earlier this month, a heated exchange between a pedestrian and a passenger in a vehicle ended with a punch being thrown at an intersection in Port Coquitlam. 

Punch thrown at a Port Coquitlam intersection between a pedestrian and a passenger