Liberal’s (BC) Platform – Early Learning & Early Childhood Development

From the BC Liberal's Website

• We know that 1 in 4 children enter kindergarten not developmentally ready to start school, so we created the StrongStart BC  program, a free drop-in early learning program for pre-school aged children accompanied by a parent or caregiver.
• We’re
  investing $43 million to establish 400 StrongStart BC centres across
  B.C. by 2010.  Today there are 190 centres up and running.
• Education Minister Shirley Bond and Minster of State for Child Care Linda Reid Launched StrongStart BC Early Learning Centres.
• As
  promised in our Throne Speech 2008, we established an Early Childhood
  Learning Agency (ECLA) to assess the feasibility and costs of providing
  full-day kindergarten for 5-year olds and providing parents the choice
  of full day kindergarten for 4-year olds by 2010 and 3-year olds by
  2012.
• We are
  committed to our vision for expanding early learning opportunities,
  including full-day kindergarten for 5-year olds.
• We
  were the first Canadian jurisdiction to implement the province-wide
  Early Development Instrument, a neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood survey
  that assesses children’s state of development upon entering
  kindergarten.
• We
  established and provide $3 million annually to the Ready, Set, Learn
  program at more than 1,000 public schools to help parents and families
  prepare their 3-year olds for kindergarten.
• We’ve invested $23 million in the Success by 6 program to support early learning, nutrition, and family services in more than 220 communities across B.C.
• We’ve
  provided over $13 million in funding to support 259 Family Resource
  Programs that offer family development services for families with
  children 0-6 years of age.
• We became the first Canadian jurisdiction to implement the Roots of Empathy program for school-aged children and the Seeds of Empathy program for preschoolers reaching more than 60,000 BC students.
• We dedicate over $7 million annually to support 43 Aboriginal Early Childhood Development initiatives.
• We
  created the Kindergarten book program that gives every Kindergarten
  student in B.C. a book to help them get excited about reading.
  Click for a photo of Minister Shirley Bond donating books to the Penticton Raise-a-Reader campaign:
• We
  invest $125,000 annually in Books for Babies. Every baby born in B.C.
  receives a book bag with a book, CD and information on library and
  community services to help parents prepare their children for a
  lifetime of reading and learning.