The Alberta government is looking to increase oversight of the child care sector.

The province introduced the Early Learning and Child Care Amendment Act, 2024 – Bill 25 on Wednesday.

The bill makes amendments to the Public Health Act and the Safety Codes Act.

The legislation is guided by recommendations made by a child care and food safety review committee established after hundreds of children fell ill last September during an E.coli outbreak in Calgary daycares.

“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,” said Dr. Lynn McMullen, a retired professor at the University of Alberta.

McMullen served on the review committee. She believes the most important change is the clarification of current language regarding food safety.

“(Existing legislation) was unclear as to what operators were expecting,” McMullen said. “One of the recommendations was that (this) be cleaned up so that operators are clear about what they are responsible for and what they need to do to protect our children.”

The new legislation, McMullen explained, will require all facility licensees to follow health and safety zoning regulations, such as measuring and recording food temperatures.

“As a food safety expert, I cannot stress enough the importance of implementing this recommendation from the group,” she added.

Other changes to Bill 25 include:

• Allow the province to refuse or revoke the license of a child care provider;
• Allow the province to close a child care program or only part of a program;
• Create an administrative penalty of up to $10,000 per violation;
• Create an online platform to gather information about child care providers, including day homes and unlicensed child care centers; And
• Create rules to allow 16 and 17 year olds to work in child care spaces under adult supervision.

Peter Guthrie, Minister of Infrastructure, introduced Bill 25 on behalf of Matt Jones, Minister of Jobs, Economy and Trade.

Guthrie said the bill aims to make the child care industry more transparent and punish “the small number of bad actors.”

The new online tool will allow parents to check certification status, previous non-compliances and stop orders from a provider. This and other changes are expected to take effect in the spring, while administrative sanctions will take effect the following fall.

“To ensure these changes do not endanger providers’ right to fair treatment, they will still have access to an appeals process, as is currently the case,” Guthrie said.

“No daycare is perfect, but perfection is not what the legislation is looking for,” said daycare director Bernice Taylor. “This legislation aims to target the bad actors in our system, those with chronic problems of non-compliance – those who give child care providers a bad name and break trust in the child care system in its entirety. together.”

Guthrie did not specify whether unlicensed providers would have to follow the same rules as licensed providers, but that they would be included in the online information platform and would be eligible for administrative sanctions.