Childcare initiative provides practical vision for helping children succeed: MHA

For Immediate Release

November 8, 2013

Childcare initiative provides practical vision for helping children succeed: MHA

St. John’s—St. John’s North MHA Dale Kirby is commending the Jimmy Pratt Foundation and its partners on the release of a discussion paper this week entitled The Early Years Last a Lifetime. The Foundation and its partners also organized a workshop on childcare this week in St. John’s along with a guest lecture at Memorial University of Newfoundland delivered by former New Brunswick Lieutenant-Governor Margaret Norrie McCain. 

“I would like to congratulate the Jimmy Pratt Foundation and its partners on continuing to take a leadership role on early learning and childcare, and bringing this important discussion to the fore,” says Kirby. “The government of Newfoundland and Labrador should seriously consider their proposals and use them to make strategic investments in early learning and care”.

The discussion paper released this week suggests that early learning and childcare programs ought to be overseen by a single government department -- rather than two separate departments, as is currently the case. The authors also endorse the implementation of full-day kindergarten for 5-year-olds and bringing government's child care plan into effect by 2016 instead of the current target year of 2022.

“One way for our province to capitalize on our current prosperity and ensure the success of future generations of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians is to look to the evidence-based solutions highlighted by the Jimmy Pratt Foundation and its partners this week,” said Kirby. “There is ample evidence to show that the rate of return on early learning and care for our children is far higher than most investments we would otherwise make.”

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For more information, please contact:

Dale Kirby, MHA

dalekirby@gov.nl.ca

Tel: 709-729-6921