REGINA -—There has finally been some movement on the issue of an extension to $10 a day child care in Saskatchewan.
Education Minister Everett Hindley confirmed to reporters last week that talks with the federal government are now under way and have been ongoing for the past month.
Saskatchewan has been one of the provinces who has yet to sign on to the National Child Care Agreement after it runs out March 1, 2026, which would have extended $10 a day child care.
The province has instead been seeking better terms of the agreement, and had been looking to start talks with the federal government. But there have been delays, the most notable one being the federal election held in April.
Hindley told reporters that after the election ended, he sent a letter to the newly installed Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu congratulating her on her appointment and saying he was “looking forward to sitting down with her and her officials to negotiate a better deal for Saskatchewan.”
After that time, Hindley said they had regularly been contacting and emailing the federal government trying to get a meeting, because “until very, very recently we didn’t have a partner at the table. And I understand obviously there’s a new Prime Minister, a new mandate for the federal government, a new Minister on the file.”
Finally, Hindley said, in mid-October they got a letter back from Minister Hajdu saying they were “looking forward to renegotiating and I’m instructing my officials to now begin negotiations with Saskatchewan.”
“So that was the first time we had a signal from the federal government saying that, yeah, they’re ready and they are prepared to start talking,” said Hindley.
He added that it then began with officials starting talking “pretty much the next day,” and starting those negotiations.
“They have been very robust. We’ve have had some asks from Saskatchewan’s perspective, and we’ve been grateful for collaboration with the federal government thus far.”
As for when a deal might be concluded, Hindley said he was “pretty confident that we will get a deal sooner than that and hopefully by the end of the calendar year, if not even prior to that.”
The government has been under considerable pressure from the opposition New Democrats for several months to sign on to a deal as soon as possible. The NDP have pointed to the ongoing uncertainty and the issues that has caused for childcare providers.
Joan Pratchler, Opposition critic for Childcare and Early Learning, said in October that there were daycares at risk of closing if a deal wasn’t concluded soon.
“The stakes are high. This waiting game can’t continue anymore,” Pratchler said.
“As a former principal, when the grade seven boys said they’re going to do their homework, I tell you, I know when it was done, it was on my desk, signed and done. We need to get this done.”
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