With Child Minding Ending at Elevation Place, Canmore Reassesses Child Care Shortages

CANMORE - Three weeks after councillors voted narrowly against reversing the child minding closure at Elevation Place, the issue returned to the council table on December 9. This time the discussion was not about reviving the service but about whether the Town of Canmore should play a larger role in expanding child care across the community.

The conversation emerged during a special meeting to finalize the 2026 operating budget. Mayor Sean Krausert introduced a motion directing council to consider, during its 2026 strategic planning session, “the town's role if any increasing the number of child care spots available in the community.”

The motion marks the beginning of a broader policy debate that councillors say was triggered directly by the fallout from the closure of Elevation Place child minding, which will end later this month.

A debate revived by the decision made in November

The December 9 discussion followed a contentious November 20 Finance Committee meeting, where councillors defeated a motion to keep the Elevation Place child minding program open. The motion failed 4 to 3, ending months of public outcry from parents who described the program as essential in a town where daycare spaces are scarce and waitlists long.

Staff had reported that revenue from the service was projected at about $12,000 for 2025, compared with more than $60,000 in staffing costs alone. Council also heard that usage had declined significantly over the past decade while subsidization had increased.

At the November meeting, Mayor Krausert stressed that the service was never designed to operate as regulated child care. “This was not daycare. It never was daycare and it should not be considered daycare,” he said during that earlier discussion.

That distinction carried through into the December 9 debate.

“It is babysitting” and a $50,000 subsidy

During the December 9 meeting, Krausert again emphasized that the Elevation Place service was often misunderstood.

“The term child minding may be a little bit too much like child care,” he said. “It's not. It's babysitting. It's babysitting while people use Elevation Place.” He noted that the program was subsidized “at least $50,000 a year.”

The mayor also pointed to usage figures that appeared small relative to the subsidy. “That is like 100 people using it once or twice a month,” he said. “Maybe it is 50 people using it once a week or less.”

For councillors who opposed reinstating the service, the numbers reinforced the concern that the Town could not justify the ongoing financial commitment.

Councillors say the child minding debate surfaced bigger gaps in the community

Although the decision to close the program had already been made, several councillors said the intensity of public feedback and the issues raised during the debate revealed a broader gap in Canmore’s childcare landscape.

Councillor Tanya Foubert said the conversation had highlighted deeper questions.

“I believe this issue, and this debate, is about child minding, which is different than child care in our community. But it is adjacent and attached and has reopened, where do we fit within existing child care or supporting child care services in our community, which I think is a really important role for us to fill,” she said.

Foubert also pointed out that the Town already supports child care indirectly. “We offer an entire facility for the daycare and the preschool.”

Councillor Jen Marran raised similar points earlier in the meeting, framing the issue as one that supports families, improves access to recreation, and ensures that residents of different means can use local facilities.

A new motion signals a shift toward examining child care expansion

Mayor Krausert’s motion on December 9 directs council to consider whether it should help increase the number of child care spaces in Canmore. “Child care, as we know, is essential in every community,” he said.

Councillor Wade Graham asked whether the new strategy work might include child minding. “Does child care also include child minding or babysitting as we talked about earlier?” he said.

Krausert responded that the term should be considered broadly. “I will use it as the all-encompassing. I am really talking about the crucial role of child care. I am not talking about babysitting specifically, but it is open for that to find its way into the conversation.”

Councillors back the review and say it will allow for a wider range of solutions

Councillor Foubert strongly supported the motion, saying the Town needs to show residents that it recognizes the seriousness of the issue. “To me, if we have a better and more robust child care in our community, we would not need potentially child minding at Elevation Place,” she said.

Councillor Rob Murray, who had led the November attempt to preserve the service, also backed the broader discussion.

“I feel the conversation around child mining to this point has been a bit of a binary choice. it is either child mining in elevation place or nothing at all,” he said. Strategic planning, he added, “seems like a really perfect spot” to explore alternatives.

What comes next

Council approved the motion unanimously. Child care will now form part of the Town’s 2026 strategic planning process, in which councillors will examine jurisdictional issues, service gaps, and the types of municipal involvement that may be feasible.

The Elevation Place child-minding service will still close at the end of December.

With councillors acknowledging that the conversation has moved well beyond a single recreation program, the coming year is likely to force a larger question into the forefront of local politics. What role, if any, should the municipality play in addressing Canmore’s growing child care shortage?