From Parents for Choice & Quality Blog

Parents for Choice & Quality have obtained the following information regarding the release of The Early Years Report. Child care centres began to receive invitations in the mail this morning.

May 25th, 2010
To Whom It May Concern:
In my initial letter to you, I indicated that soon we would be releasing The Early Years Report and government’s plan to revitalize and refocus early learning and child care for children from birth to age 4 on Prince Edward Island. I am pleased to inform you that we have completed our work and now, I invite you to participate in one of the following opportunities to learn more about the details of this plan.

The first opportunity for information will be a press conference, which is being held on Friday, May 28th at 10:00 am at the Parkdale Sherwood Headstart, located at 11 Christie Drive, Charlottetown.

Two information sessions are planned for Saturday, May 29th. Kathleen Flanagan will be on hand to present The Early Years Report and I will also be in attendance at these sessions. Senior staff from the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development will also be available to answer any questions you may have as we work to refocus the early learning system on PEI.

The information sessions will be held Saturday, May 29th at the following times and locations:
8:30 – 11:00 am
Carrefour de l’Isle-Saint-Jean
5 Acadienne Drive
Charlottetown
1:00 – 3:30 pm
Loyalist Country Inn
195 Harbour Drive
Summerside

Thank you for taking the time to raise issues and make suggestions. Your contributions have been invaluable in informing and assisting government. We have attempted to consider all points of view as we developed the plan and would appreciate your participation as we move this plan forward. I look forward to seeing you on Friday at the press conference or on Saturday at one of the information sessions.

Sincerely,

Doug Currie
Minister

via choiceandquality.wordpress.com

Today Bill 47 was passed by Government in the PEI legislature. This Bill makes a simple wording change (replacing "shall" with "may") in the Child Care Facilities Act.  This change will now allow the Child Care Facilities Board to choose NOT to issue child care license to an applicant who applies for licensing to operate a child care facility on the Island.  This basically gives the Board full power to determine who, how and where a new child care program may be operated.  It also protects existing child care programs that are already licensed (many of whom offer low quality child care) from any form of competition.  This will result in poor quality programs being protected and entrenched within the existing child care system.  It will also reduce program choice for many families.

For more than 2 years I have been actively working with Island families and professional colleagues to prevent a change such as this from passing through the PEI legislature.  Child care choice and quality for Island families and their children has been seriously compromised today.  It is indeed a sad, sad day for Prince Edward Island families with children who currently (or in the future will need to) access child care and early learning programs.

SECTION 1 amends a provision of the Child Care Facilities Act
regarding the Child Care Facilities Board issuing licenses for the
operation of child care facilities by referencing the application process
and changing the word “shall” to the word “may”.