Alberta aims to strengthen enforcement power of child-care system overseers

The Alberta government is seeking to bolster its ability to hold child-care providers accountable, tabling a bill that would give the statutory director more power. 

The director's current jurisdiction includes overseeing the certification of early childhood educators and general supervision of the child-care system. It can also issue, renew, vary and cancel a licence for facility-based child-care programs, as well as family day home agencies.

"The vast majority of providers and early childhood educators are committed to helping children grow and thrive through high-quality care," Infrastructure Minister Pete Guthrie said during a news conference Wednesday. 

"Bill 25 will give our child-care licensing team the necessary enforcement tools and capabilities to hold bad actors accountable when they do not prioritize the wellbeing of children."

The bill proposes changes to the Early Learning and Child Care Act that, if passed, would allow the director to:

• "Act in the public interest" to cancel, refuse to issue or renew a facility-based licence or a family day home agency licence. 
• Temporarily close a facility — partially or fully. 
• Suspend a family day home licence and issue a probationary licence.
• Force a provider to change their program plan.

The proposed legislation would add administrative penalties into the legislation, as an enforcement option for the oversight of the child-care sector.

It would also allow parents to access the certification status of early childhood educators and stop orders against unlicensed providers.

Government follows panel recommendation

The provincial government had set up a panel to examine how to improve food safety at child-care facilities, after an E. coli outbreak at several facilities in Calgary last fall led to at least 448 infections. 

The panel recommended to clearly state in legislation that "all facility-based licence holders must comply with applicable zoning, health and safety legislation," according to a news release the government issued Wednesday.

Bill 25 would follow through on that.

"I'm really glad to see the government stepping up to take the recommendations and solidify them into legislation," Lynn McMullen, a food microbiologist and member of the review panel, told reporters Wednesday. 

McMullen said multiple pieces of existing legislation were pored over in an effort to close the gaps. 

"We found that Alberta's legislation needed to be strengthened and streamlined to ensure that every child-care operator understands the regulations that apply to them," she said. 

"At the time, this was not clear."

Diana Batten, Opposition NDP critic for child care, said the proposed legislation doesn't go far enough. 

"The safety risks that are not being addressed whatsoever is human-to-human transmission," Batten told reporters. 

"It's the whole hand-washing piece. There's nothing in that bill that provides any more guidance to providers to keep their staff from spreading infection."