Finding a daycare in calgary

Hi,
I'm new to this forum and i need help figuring out how it works to find a daycare place in alberta / calgary.
I am now living in montreal but planning to move in alberta in 2 years for work related reasons. I am asking now as i know, here in montreal, if you wish to have a place in a daycare, you need to plan well in advance and put your name down on a waiting list 1.5 to 2 years ahead of time.
My daughter will be 2.5 years old by the time we move and i would love for her to attend a daycare / preschool type of installation with an educational program. Can anyone recommend a good place ? I will be working at the Foothills medical center so any location in that area would be great !
Also, i was wondering if as we have here, there are governement programs / tax credits applied to daycare ? What are the costs of daycare in alberta ?
TIA for your help.. it's hard enough to find a good place, imagine when you're far away !
niki

I am not in Calgary, but close to... so I can answer some of those questions.
For most places, you will not need to be on a waiting list for that long. Depending on the care situation you are looking for, you may be placed immediately. I cannot recommend a specific place or program, so I'm no help there. The 3 main types of care we have in this area are centre-based, private home-based and licensed home-based. Centres and licensed dayhomes will be more expensive but you are able to apply for subsidies, etc if you go this direction. Private dayhomes will tend to be less expensive to compensate for this fact. There is a huuuuuge variance in fees, though. You could be looking at as little as $500 up to $1000 or more, depending on what you are looking for.
Most "pre-schools" are not all day, they typically have morning/afternoon classes a couple of days a week. So you can either have her go to daycare that can transport her to the classes, or some of the providers (both home and centre based) will have educational programs.
You can check dayhomesincalgary.co m if you want to do home-based. Or godaycare.com and search Calgary.
Hope that helps?

Thanks for your reply.
I guess i'd like a center-based type of daycare by the time LO is 2.5 yo. I'll take a look at those links you posted. I assume the costs you mentioned are monthly ?
Thanks

Sorry, yes that is monthly. Most of the care centres around here place you monthly and therefore you pay your fee monthly. As opposed to weekly or bi-weekly, I mean. I wish you all the luck in your move!!