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Gallant Gov’t Boosts Early Childhood Education Funding

Saint John, NB, Canada / 97.3 The Wave
News
Apr 24, 2017 | 5:16 PM
Gallant Gov't Boosts Early Childhood Education Funding


New Brunswick’s early learning and child care system has received a $1 million funding boost from the Gallant government.

Premier Brian Gallant says the investment is designed to create more daycare spaces, support the training of early childhood educators along with improving programs and services.

“We are going to double the daycare assistance program budget on January 1st, 2018 making daycares more accessible and affordable.  Since we’ve been the government we have created 2300 more daycare spaces in the province,” he notes.

Gallant says the investment will help expand daycare spaces in rural areas and provide more support for families which may need extended daycare hours.

Tuition reimbursements will also be available for those earning an early childhood education certificate.

Today’s provincial announcement was made at Wee College on Hildegard Drive in Moncton.

The founder and president of Wee College in Moncton says she is disappointed but yet hopeful by the early learning announcement from the Gallant government.

Melody Munroe says the province is facing a huge need in child care in terms of human resources along with affordability and accessibility for parents.

“We have daycare centres today that have been around since 1983 that (the owners) are looking at retiring and nobody is taking their places.  So certainly $1 million… we could use a lot more… is a start,” she says.

In an ideal world, Munroe adds $10 million dollars instead of $1 million would have been a great investment in the early childhood education system.