News & Stories: Policy Monitor

Excerpt: "Universal kindergarten for 4 year- olds will be rolled out taking into account the school system's current resources. The teachers will be supported by an educator or special education technician and a team of professionals. The government plans to add 250 new classes starting in September 2019."

Excerpt: "Kindergarten classes for children from the age of 4 is a non-compulsory service made available to families with the passage of Bill 5 in 2019. It is being phased in gradually in schools across Québec. The Preschool Education Program for 4-Year-Olds is intended to facilitate the global development of all children in that age bracket by offering them challenges adapted to their needs and interests in a context where the focus is on play."

Minister of Finance Eric Girard delivered Budget Speech 2020-2021 on March 10, 2020.

Excerpt: "FINDINGS: There are not enough places available in subsidized childcare to meet the needs of families in Québec. Families that are unable to find subsidized childcare pay more for a service whose quality does not necessarily meet expectations; The children of low-income families are underrepresented in childcare centres (CPE) that are located in the administrative regions of Laval and Montréal; The Place 0-5 single-window access to childcare services does not allow for the efficient management of access to these services. Theinformation presented on the website is not up-to-date and is not sufficient to meet the needs of parents; The oversight of childcare services by the ministère de la Famille is largely insufficient to optimize access to childcare services, in particular for families with a child who has special needs; The ministère de la Famille is not meeting its objectives for the creation of new places in subsidized childcare that were announced several years ago, which prevents it from meeting the needs of families."

Excerpt: "Today, the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, Ahmed Hussen, announced $137 million in federal support for Quebec’s child care sector to help ensure that safe and sufficient child care spaces are available to support parents’ gradual return to work."

Excerpt: "The governments of Quebec and Canada recognize Quebec’s leadership in early learning and child care and together, they have announced an asymmetric agreement for the federal transfer of nearly $6 billion over five years. This includes a significant portion that will go toward strengthening the early learning and child care system in Quebec and improving working conditions for educators."

Excerpt: "In order to strengthen the current system, the Government of Quebec announced, as part of its fiscal year 2021 to 2022 budget, investments of $144.2 million over 5 years to: increase the number of qualified early childhood educators; accelerate the development of child care spaces through measures such as reviewing and optimizing the process related to the development of centres de la petite enfance (CPEs), authorizing the use of temporary facilities, and providing additional incentives for home child care providers; improve the offer of child care services and make it more flexible by promoting the provision of atypical child care and the offer of activities by community drop-in centres."

Excerpt: "To improve assistance and services for families and youth, the government is announcing funding totalling $256 million in this budget to: improve the quality of the educational childcare services network; rovide support to families with special needs and improve targeted services for them; support young people. The financial impact of these measures is $109 million, in light of amounts announced elsewhere in this budget, such as the implementation of the 2022‑2027 government action plan in the community action field."

Excerpt: "Under the agreement with Quebec, the Government of Canada is investing nearly $6 billion over five years to make further improvements to early learning and child care. A significant portion of the funding will address Quebec’s stated child care priorities, including creating more than 30,000 subsidized reduced-contribution child care spaces, increasing the number of qualified child care educators and strengthening the current child care network."

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development released the 2011-2012 Annual Report.

The PEI government released its Budget Address 2013. To ensure the growth in the early childhood initiative continues, the Government will increase its commitment to the Early Years Centres by $250,000, bringing the total investment to approximately $7.7 million next year. An additional $60,000 is being committed to the Best Start Program to expand services to include children up to 36 months of age. The total contribution to the Best Start Program is now in excess of $1.2 million.

This report is the results of the first year’s evaluation of Prince Edward Island’s Preschool Excellence Initiative -- a comprehensive 5-year plan to build a provincial early childhood system for children from infancy to kindergarten. The system’s emphasis is on building a community based, publicly managed early childhood system supporting the early development of children while at the same time supporting parents in balancing their work and family responsibilities.