The operator of an early learning child care centre in High River wants to see some consistency in provincial transportation rules.

Julia Gwyn-Morris operates Daydreams Early Learning and says the cost of providing transportation to get kids to and from kindergarten or school is becoming cost prohibitive.

"Early learning centres, daycares as it were, have had to provide transportation in order to get children to and from schools and centres," she says. "There's some things that have changed and we're wondering who has the purview, is it in the transportation department of the provincial government or is it the purview of licensing and those two get very mixed up."

She says cost effectiveness has been adversely affected by the changes.

"The cost of providing these services which are much needed in the rural sector for families to go to work and children to get safely to their schools and back again is cost prohibitive and then we've got COVID wrapped on top of that and then as ELCC centres, which is mine, where this provincial government has taken away the funding as of March 31, 2021 and so the stressors on the affordable child care component is huge."

Gwyn-Morris says the Province doesn't believe in the pilot program that was put in place by the previous NDP government so that funding will end at the end of March.

She says the Province says it wants to get people back to work but pulls the rug out from under them when it comes to child care subsidies.

She says they have a 15 person vehicle they can use to take kids to and from school but they have to make multiple trips because of the ages of the children, which adds more cost..

And she says Daydreams is working at only half capacity because of COVID guidelines.

READ MORE:Daycares offering transportation left in the lurch

 

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