‘I expect we will’: Sask. premier confident province will sign extension with Ottawa to keep $10 per day childcare

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is confident the province will sign an extension with the federal government to keep $10 per day childcare a reality in Saskatchewan until at least 2031.

Along with Alberta, Saskatchewan is currently the only other province or territory to not agree to an extension of the federal daycare program. The current deal expires at the end of March in 2026.

“I would expect we will.” Moe said when asked why Saskatchewan has yet to sign an extension with the federal government. “Credit to the federal government, each provincial program is somewhat different and that is the outcome of signing bilaterals as each program is different with a little bit different focus.”

Moe said that allowed provinces to bring their priorities forward within the parameters of the program.

“Ours is to expand the number of [subsidized childcare] spaces that are available across the province and so we’re in those negotiations, we weren’t able to complete those negotiations in the two-week timeline the federal government gave the provinces, but we expect to sign on,” Moe said.

He added that an agreement will likely be reached once the province has all the initiatives and questions it has addressed by the federal government.

Since Ottawa announced that all but Saskatchewan and Alberta had agreed to an extension of the program, the provincial government has faced ongoing pressure from groups like the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the provincial NDP and childcare workers themselves to also agree to an extension.

• Future of $10 per day childcare up in the air with Sask. yet to accept new federal dollars: CUPE

In all, the federal government is providing $36.8 billion for the program’s extension, divvied up to various amounts for each province and territory.

On Thursday at a joint news conference in Regina, President of CUPE Saskatchewan Kent Peterson, CUPE National President Mark Hancock, CUPE National Security Treasurer Candace Rennick and Chapter Chair of Child Care Now Saskatchewan Sue Delanoy all demanded that Moe and the province reach an agreement with Ottawa to extend the program that has been in place since April 1, 2023.

Saskatchewan first joined the program in 2021 when an agreement was initially announced.

CUPE said that information provided by Employment and Social Development Canada estimates that annual savings have been around $7,000 per child since the program was first implemented.