I think there's a little bit of confusion about some of the language. My understanding is that home-based day cares, which in Alberta we call “day homes”, are being included under this agreement as a non-profit model. That's very confusing and misleading to me, because those are very much a for-profit model. They are women who usually stay at home. You're allowed to have a certain number of children in your home. You want to be licensed. I want 100% to support licensed, regulated, quality care.
That is separate from, let's say, what my centre offers. I am a private child care operator. I have a commercial space that I lease. I operate under the exact same regulations and standards as those of a non-profit business model. We follow all the same guidelines. The only thing different is our business model.
They are two separate things. I do believe that a home-based day home would be a for-profit business model as well. I find it very misleading to be included in a non-profit structure. As for-profit private child care centres, we are not able to expand and do not have access for our families in our care in the same way that a non-profit business model does under this agreement.
I wholeheartedly think that if you are supporting family accessibility to child care spaces and you want to help alleviate some of the wait-lists and the demand that we're seeing, then it should include all licensed child care providers.