In this brief, Rob Buschmann and Jennifer Fischer-Summers provide an update on the latest fees for licensed early learning and care in Edmonton. They also show that 2020 continues an ongoing trend of early learning and care fees outpacing inflation in the city since 2014. Finally, they discuss what fees in Edmonton might look like in 2021.

ECELC members and CUP Research Associate Rob Buschmann and Research Assistant Jennifer Fischer-Summers recently co-authored a 1-page brief with researchers at the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy on child care subsidy changes.

The Child Care Act and Regulation provides the legislative basis for early learning and care in Alberta. The Act has undergone review by the Ministry of Children’s Services, and a new Act was tabled in the Legislature in November 2020. This report is a comprehensive review of how jurisdictions can, and do, support quality in early learning and care through a combination of regulation and other policy vehicles and mechanisms.

Provides an introduction to child care subsidies in Alberta, outlines and analyzes some of the recent changes to subsidies, provides suggestions for improving the subsidy system and the general affordability of early learning and care in Alberta, and concludes by providing some perspective on the role of affordability within a high-quality early learning and care system.

This brief describes three reasons that early learning and care should be a core part of any Edmonton-specific COVID-19 recovery plan.