If you’re an Alberta parent looking for more affordable and accessible child care, there’s still hope on the horizon – if the province and Ottawa can get through the politicking to reach an agreement for billions in federal spending.

       The central pledge of the federal Liberal budget earlier this year was to establish a Canada-wide, community-based system of child care. Ottawa sees it as “a transformative project on a scale with the work of previous generations of Canadians, who built a public school system and public health care,” according to a Department of Finance document. There’s huge money on the table to back that ambitious goal: $27.2-billion over five years, starting in 2021-22, to halve child care costs by the end of 2022 and then get to an average cost of $10 a day for children under the age of 6 by 2026.

       Ottawa needs deals with the provinces and territories to bring all of this to fruition. And if you weren’t sure an election was close to being called, the federal government’s push on a whirlwind of child care agreements in recent weeks might convince you. First it was British Columbia, then came Nova Scotia, Yukon, P.E.I., and Newfoundland and Labrador. It’s a pre-election rush on the part of the federal Liberals to cross a major to-do item off their list – all the better to trumpet to voters.

       Alberta renews child-care deal with Ottawa and prolongs talks about $10 a day program

       Importantly on Thursday, Ottawa announced an agreement with Quebec on an almost no-strings-attached promise of nearly $6-billion in child care dollars over the next five years. Alberta immediately expressed its displeasure with not being afforded the same consideration.

       “Apparently one province is more equal than the others. Apparently Quebec parents and kids get favourable consideration over Alberta parents and kids,” Premier Jason Kenney blasted on Friday.

       “It is indefensible. If Quebec gets this kind of flexibility to best support the local needs of their parents and children on child care, then Alberta must have the same flexibility.”

       There’s no doubt Quebec got a special “asymmetric agreement” on child care. But key to the calculation is there’s little risk the province isn’t on board with Ottawa’s vision. The federal government has already long held up Quebec as an example.

       Mikaela Harrison, a spokeswoman for Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, said the agreement “builds on this success to strengthen the Quebec system.” In response to Alberta’s concerns, she said ”allowing for regional differences within a bold federal vision has always been at the core of our approach.”

       Ms. Harrison said late Friday that what unites the provinces and territories that have signed agreements is the timeline, a commitment to $10-a-day care for all regulated spaces, building more regulated spaces to ensure accessibility and inclusivity, and a commitment to make significant investments in early childhood educators. “To date, the Alberta government has not been willing to meet those standards,” she said.

       To be sure, there are wide philosophical gulfs between the Kenney and Trudeau governments on the topic. There is also loads of political baggage on other subjects factoring into the Quebec deal. Long-standing political grievances in Alberta include how deferential Ottawa is to Quebec’s opposition to pipelines, and how greatly Quebec benefits from the current equalization formula. Even though Quebec makes much different choices than Alberta when it comes to its taxation levels and spending priorities, some Albertans grumble the country’s oil and gas wealth has helped to pay for Quebec’s $8.50-a-day child care program with little recognition of that fact.

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       And while Alberta politicians have long made hay by battling with Ottawa, the federal Liberals might at this moment have reason to tussle with Mr. Kenney’s government, too. Distinguishing themselves by emphasizing their differences, or righteousness, in comparison to Mr. Kenney’s United Conservative Party government might be politically useful to woo progressive voters.

       But there’s also potential for compromise.

       It’s unclear how close we are to a federal election call. But any child care deal not signed with the remaining provinces and territories will all be pushed off until well after voting day.

       A cherry-on-top for the federal Liberals would be finding agreement with vote-rich Ontario before the campaign is full-on. Even in Alberta, the federal Liberals have some desire to pick up a few seats.

       Alberta Children’s Services Minister Rebecca Schulz said in an interview on Friday that she’s unhappy that she was told no province was going to get a no-strings-attached deal – right before Quebec was given exactly that. But still, she said, her working relationship with Mr. Hussen is cordial and she’s hopeful a deal can be reached soon, even before an election. The province submitted a new proposal, just on Thursday, with more details about what it plans to do with the federal dollars.

       Those details are confidential, she said. But for the first time, Alberta this week spoke in clear, favourable terms about the $10-a-day program – even if it was couched in the means-tested language the UCP government prefers.

       “We are committed to $10-a-day child care for low-income families and families who are really in need,” Ms. Schulz said. “This is something that we think is doable. I understand the federal government’s goals.”

       The federal Liberals, however, speak about $10 a day as being universal for everyone – not just low-income families.

       Alberta is right to point out the different set of circumstances that exists here, including a higher makeup of private child care operators than in other provinces, and the fact more families prefer “informal arrangements” (for example, family members taking care of kids) for child care.

       But the province is not different than other places in that there’s still a need for child care to be more accessible and affordable. The federal government says Calgary’s average costs for full-time child care for a toddler are $1,250 per month, in line with some of the fees in the GTA communities – the highest in the country. (The UCP ditched the former NDP government’s $25-a-day child care plan, but fees for about 19,000 children in low-income families are still $25 a day or less under provincial programs.)

       And as a return to school is just weeks away, I am reminded that another part of the province’s exceptional need for child care lies in a difference in its educational system. Unlike the other big provinces, Alberta doesn’t fund junior kindergarten, and the biggest school boards in the province only provide full-day kindergarten in lower-income, more socially vulnerable neighbourhoods.

       In Calgary’s public system, for instance, many kindergarten students only attend school 2？ hours a day. Parents (a large number moms, of course) are responsible for the scramble for child care and difficult-to-manage pickups and dropoffs, up until it gets a bit easier when kids start going to school full-time in Grade 1. Some parents just opt to stay home instead.

       There is no doubt making the cost of child care a near non-issue might bring in or keep many more parents in the work force. There is no doubt a grander scheme for child care is needed in Canada, and maybe especially so in Alberta.

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