Dieppe, N.B. daycare owner says help announced by province not enough – New Brunswick | Globalnews.ca

Katherine Pinet, owner of Garderie Le Royaume daycare in Dieppe, N.B., says while she is happy her staff are receiving temporary help in the form of a newly-announced wage top-up, it’s not enough to addess the widespread, longstanding staffing shortages in the industry.

During a press conference on Friday, NB Education and Early Childhood Development minister Dominic Cardy announced a $200-per-month wage top-up for early childhood educators, which will take effect retroctively from Dec. 1, 2021, and end on March 31, 2022.  He also announced daycares operating under Level 2 or 3 of the Winter Plan would receive an additional $50 per space, per month.

In an interview on Monday, Pinet said, “The issue is not going to be solved with a temporary wage top-up. We need a more permanent solution. We need wage enhancement.” She believes a better solution would be a permanent wage top-up like the one offered in 2019.

“The staffing issue was not caused by COVID but it has been made worse by COVID, as children […] share a lot of germs.”

She would like to see the current $19 hourly wage upped to $25 per hour, in order to keep the wages comparable to jobs like education assistants in the school system.

She said she would not be able to offer a higher wage to her staff without a government top up, as her margins are already growing thinner with the increasing cost of doing business due to inflation.

Daycares are unable to raise their rates without permission from the provincial government, and there is a cap in place.

Pinet said that’s not an option for her either way.

“The problem with raising our rates is that families are already struggling to pay childcare. This is already a very expensive monthly expense. To add to those families’ [financial difficulties] I don’t think is fair.”

Daycares struggling with fewer clients

Pinet said with more parents working from home, schools going virtual and rising COVID-19 case numbers, many parents are pulling their children out of daycare.

“Just last week I had five kids give notice, which is a huge downgrade in my monthly profits.”

Combined with the staffing issues and ever-changing COVID-19 protocols, she says over the past couple weeks she has heard many daycare operators are wondering how long they’ll be able to keep going.

“A lot of them are concerned about needing to shut down, a lot of them are concerned about needing to reduce their hours, the amount of kids they take … we’re really struggling and we find this difficult.” she said.

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development did not respond to Global News’ request for comment.

During the press conference on Friday, Cardy said the assistance programs would be reevaluated in late March, and “hopefully at that point we’ll be able to be looking at the other side of the Omicron outbreak.”

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