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Child Care Now Alberta Launches Province-Wide Campaign to Make Child Care a Priority in Municipal Elections

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As municipal elections approach on October 20th, Child Care Now Alberta (CCN Alberta) is calling on candidates across the province to publicly commit to advancing accessible, affordable, and high-quality early learning and child care. CCN Alberta has launched a province-wide Candidate Pledge—inviting mayoral, councilor, and school trustee candidates to show their support for families and educators by signing on. The Pledge calls for a commitment to:

  1. Be a Champion for Child Care: Advocate for a high-quality, inclusive child care system that supports families, educators, and communities, and ensures long-term sustainability.
  2. Expand Access to Affordable Child Care: Advocate for a high-quality, inclusive child care system that supports families, educators, and communities, and ensures long-term sustainability.
  3. Strengthen Municipal Leadership: Promote the municipality’s role in child care planning and advocacy, ensuring local needs are reflected in provincial and federal policy decisions through data-informed planning and community consultation.

So far, more than fifty candidates have signed the pledge, including five mayoral candidates and dozens of councillor and school trustee candidates from communities such as Edmonton, Calgary, Lethbridge, Red Deer, Medicine Hat, Grande Prairie, and beyond.

To help voters make informed choices, CCN Alberta has also created a public online directory where residents can search by municipality to see which candidates have signed the pledge. The directory aims to bring transparency to the issue and highlight those who are prioritizing Alberta’s children, families, and early learning professionals.

While child care is often seen as a provincial or federal responsibility, municipalities can play a critical role in:

  • Planning and coordinating local child care services.
  • Supporting infrastructure and zoning for new centres.
  • Advocating for community needs in provincial and federal policy.
  • Operating municipally-run child care centres or partnering with providers.
  • Accessing the Building Blocks Capital Grant Program to create more registered child care spaces in their communities.

Voters are encouraged to visit the directory and contact candidates in their area to ask them to sign the pledge before election day.

Learn more and explore the directory here.