News & Stories: Prince Edward Island

Excerpt: "Key strategic priorities of our government are: Ensuring that Islanders have access to reliable energy, advancing policies and projects that keep energy costs manageable for households and businesses, and strengthening the reliability and resilience of our grid; Ensuring responsible and transparent land ownership and land management, improving oversight and enforcement, and modernizing land‑use planning frameworks to support appropriate development while protecting agricultural land and sensitive ecosystems; Expanding access to primary care, improving wait times, and strengthening our recruitment and retention of our valued healthcare workers; Supporting Island residents and businesses in addressing affordability pressures, including food security, childcare, and housing; Approaching all decisions with aggressive financial stewardship and transparency."

Excerpt: "The Province has appointed the Honourable David H. Jenkins, former Chief Justice of Prince Edward Island and Chief Justice of the Prince Edward Island Court of Appeal, to lead a third-party review of the policies, procedures, and processes of both the Public Schools Branch, la Commission scolaire de langue française, and the Department of Education and Early Years. Following serious incidents related to student safety, the third-party review aims to identify vulnerabilities in existing safeguards, recommend improvements, and propose new measures to better protect children in Island schools."

Excerpt: "The Province, in partnership with the Government of Canada, will address the pressing child care needs Island families face through the Canada-Prince Edward Island Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. Two new grants under this agreement will help establish more licensed early childhood centres and support high-quality, inclusive early learning initiatives. Current designated and probationary early years centres can apply for one-time funding up to $35,000 based on enrollment through the Inclusive Equipment and Materials Grant. Funding through this grant will allow them to purchase items such as sensory equipment and educational technology that enhance inclusive early years education programming. Through the new Non-Profit Organization Child Care Start-Up Grant, the Province is providing one-time funding, up to $200,000, for eligible construction and renovation costs to NPOs who operate new early childhood centres for at least five years and prioritizes infants and toddlers spaces. Eligible applicants will also be expected to become designated within 18 months after opening."

Excerpt: "The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced an agreement with the Government of Prince Edward Island to increase school food programs in the province. This agreement, under the federal government’s National School Food Program, will provide over 1,500 more kids with healthy lunches, and over 800 more kids with healthy breakfasts and snacks this school year. With this agreement, a two-child family in Prince Edward Island will save $800 in grocery bills a year on average. This initial federal investment of approximately $7.1 million over three years will help families and keep more money in their pockets. This investment will also support critical program needs like food transportation, storage, and preparation equipment. All in all, this will result in an estimated 438,000 more meals served to kids across Prince Edward Island this school year."

Excerpt: "Licensed school-age child care centres will be able to access new funding to help them deliver before and after school programming for Island children. To ensure Island families can continue to access affordable child care programming, the Province is investing $537,900 to support operational costs and encourage more organizations to offer school-age child care programs. The new funding will include a one-time stabilization grant for existing operators and a new licensing incentive grant for new operators."

Excerpt: "The Steps to Success program will be offered again this fall, providing financial aid and experience to help Islanders pursue a rewarding career as an early childhood educator. This group-based training initiative is funded by the Department of Workforce, Advanced Learning and Population through the Canada-PEI labour market agreements and creates a pathway for participants to: Work full time at a PEI licensed child care centre; Receive post-secondary early childhood education courses at Holland College; A training stipend (when applicable); Travel allowance (when applicable); Child care allowances (when applicable). Over the past 4 years, this program has provided training to over 100 participants, with a combined investment of $1.8 million. Participants will also be enrolled in three introductory Early Childhood Education courses through Holland College, with all fees and course materials covered by the project."

Excerpt: "That’s why, today in Charlottetown, the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food, on behalf of the Honourable Jenna Sudds, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, joined the Honourable Natalie Jameson, Prince Edward Island’s Minister of Education and Early Years, to announce $10.1 million over four years to help build more inclusive child care spaces across the province through the Government of Canada’s $625 million Early Learning and Child Care Infrastructure Fund. This investment will further help Prince Edward Island, which has already exceeded the shared goal of building 452 new child care spaces by 2026."

Excerpt: "The EYC Expansion Capital Grant provides financial assistance to create new licensed early learning and child care spaces, particularly for infant and/or toddler-aged children within new and existing facilities. This grant offers a maximum of $200,000 to facilitate new construction, renovations, and/or equipment purchases to help meet the urgent need for expanded spaces. The EYC Architectural Fee Reimbursement Grant offers funding for architectural fees to create new licensed early learning and child care spaces. This grant aims to alleviate financial barriers that hinder centres from expanding by reimbursing 80 per cent of the project's architecture fees to a maximum of $80,000."

Excerpt: "Island students are learning while outdoors and having fun at the same time thanks to more than 100 projects funded through new grants from the Department of Education and Early Years. The Outdoor Learning Grants are funding all sorts of outdoor activities, including day trips, conservation projects, outdoor classrooms and play spaces, weather stations, school gardens and more. The goal is to help kids learn important skills while providing meaningful outdoor learning opportunities that transcend traditional classroom settings. "We want every student to have the chance to explore nature and learn outside. With these grants, we want to help empower schools and teachers to create impactful outdoor learning experiences that inspire curiosity, foster environmental stewardship, and promote personal growth.""

Excerpt: "Growing Childcare Supports and Spaces - $4.3M - To improve access to childcare for families, continue the implementation of $10/day childcare and provide supports for operators to create more childcare spaces, with a commitment of 30 percent of new spaces for infants. This brings the total investment in reducing fees to $12.3 million."

Excerpt: "Participants mentioned the need for the public school system to accommodate the increasing school-age population. The unique needs of new resident students, such as English and French as Additional Language students, were also acknowledged. At the same time, there was a recognition that the province has a robust education system on which to build. Participants also raised Early Learning and Child Care access as a concern. Limited access to Early Learning and Child Care prevents some parents from participating in the workforce. Early Learning and Child Care inaccessibility are felt more acutely by vulnerable segments of the population— women, lower-income families, and members of equity-deserving groups—creating additional barriers to social inclusion."

Excerpt: "The New Year brings added benefits for the early years sector in Prince Edward Island, including updated regulations, three newly designated Early Years Centres (EYCs) and a drop in child care fees to $10-a-day. After extensive consultation, the province is pleased to support the early years sector and Island families by updating the Early Learning and Child Care Act regulations. These updates will support centres and developers who want to plan for more spaces by allowing for increased enrollment, modernized titles for staff certification levels and added pathways to obtain certification, and bring changes to prevent delays in filling vacancies at centres."