REGINA - No sooner has a new federal government been elected than the pressure was back on the provincial government to get a deal done on $10 a day child care.
Opposition Leader Carla Beck raised the issue again in the Legislature Tuesday, demanding to know why a deal was not done with the Feds.
“Now the Sask Party minister said that it was because of the federal election that he couldn’t sign on to this important deal for Saskatchewan families,” Beck said, as recorded in Hansard.
“Well, Mr. Speaker, the election is over. Will that government, will that government do what it already should have done? Will they sign on to the national child care agreement?”
“I know there’s some new members in this Chamber, but the Leader of the Opposition is not one of them,” Hindley responded.
“And she should know that the election was just not even 12 hours ago. And they already expect that apparently there’s been a cabinet appointed federally. It shows you how little they know about how this actually works, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this government remains committed to negotiating a child care deal. We want to ensure that we get the best deal possible for Saskatchewan families.”
In speaking to reporters after Question Period, Hindley said his government fully intends "to renegotiate this deal for Saskatchewan.”
Hindley reiterated the government was waiting to see the results of the federal election to see what the national government would be, and “now we are waiting to see who gets appointed to this particular file.”
“We remain active and ready to be able to negotiate, and I’m looking forward to having that conversation with whoever the federal minister is, whether it is Minister (Steven) MacKinnon reappointed to this file, who I know had some involvement on it prior to the dropping of the writ, or whether it is some other individual.”
Saskatchewan is one of two provinces that have not yet signed on yet to the extension of the child care agreement. The current agreement runs to March, 2026.
Hindley indicated to reporters Tuesday that the reason why the province was looking to negotiate was because “some things have changed” in the landscape of childcare, and there were some other things that needed to be addressed.
“We just want to ensure that whoever we are working with has the best interest of Saskatchewan families,” said Hindley. “I would be hopeful that would be the case. I think there is an opportunity to do that, to make sure that we achieve that, to bring our concerns to the table to the federal minister responsible for this file to say ‘here’s what we’re hearing.’ And we know we’re not going to be able to get everything that perhaps we might be looking for. We hope there’s some compromise from our federal counterpart.”
As for how quickly a deal could get done once the federal minister is in place, Hindley said it was difficult to say because “we do have a new Prime Minister… Mark Carney did not have a seat in the House of Commons when this program was developed and designed.”
“It really is tough to say how the new Prime Minister views the future of this program. Is it the status quo? Is it the exact same program for a certain number of years? The exact same funding level? So I guess that’s the question of what the direction would be of the new Prime Minister and his federal cabinet and the minister that gets appointed to this file.”
NDP critic Joan Pratchler made it known to reporters she was not interested in any more delays, pointing to the continued uncertainty for child care providers.
Pratchler made clear to reporters at the Legislature she was not impressed with the explanation that the province was waiting for the federal minister to be appointed.
“So? You had that time. Get on it," said Pratchler.
"It’s a priority or it’s not a priority. Your turn, your call, let’s move it. There’s a lot of parents and a lot of families and a lot of communities that depend on it. It needs to be done, sign the deal. Let’s get on with it, shall we?”
