An advocacy group wants both a provincial and federal audit of how Alberta spent a $25.9-million grant from Ottawa meant for creating more child-care spaces.

Bill Moore-Kilgannon of Public Interest Alberta says documents obtained under freedom of information legislation show the province planned to put the money into general revenue. He says the money should have gone directly into providing more child-care spaces given high prices and long waiting lists in the province.

"There is no indication over the last year that the money that was committed from the federal government has gone into building more child-care spaces,'' he said Friday.

But Children's Services spokeswoman Mary Lou Reeleder said the province almost always puts federal transfer payments into general revenue. Departments then create individual budgets based on how much money they need, she said.

"Federal transfers are very unpredictable,'' said Reeleder, who pointed to an overall decrease in federal funds.

"So we have to make sure that we're able to sustain any investments that we make, because usually it's not a one-time investment. It's going to be a program that's going to continue on for years to come.''

Child care was a issue during the recent Alberta election campaign. Each party leader presented a plan to fix the shortage of spaces and find ways to help parents paying as much as $1,000 a month per child to secure daycare.

Vivian Turner, executive director of the daycare where Moore-Kilgannon spoke Friday, said it's to the point where parents start crying on the phone because they're so frustrated by not being able to find a place for their children.

Reeleder said the province has created almost 2,000 spaces and is also targeting wage increases and education as a way to bring more workers to the field.

Moore-Kilgannon said he's interested in how Premier Ed Stelmach will make good on an election pledge to create 14,000 new child-care spaces.

"Now it's an opportunity for the premier...to make sure that we're coming up with a comprehensive plan that's seriously going to resolve the crisis that exists in child care.

"This is an ongoing, critical issue that we need to address. And the fact remains that Alberta -- the richest province in Canada -- spends the lowest on child care in Canada. We spend one-third the national average on child care.''

Moore-Kilgannon says Public Interest Alberta is a non-partisan organization that includes teacher and student associations and seniors groups.