The following statement was read in the House of Assembly today by the Honourable Krista Lynn Howell, Minister of Education:

Speaker, I rise in this Honourable House to highlight our government’s efforts to improve access to early learning and child care in the province.

These efforts have been recognized in a recent report by the Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development, which ranks Newfoundland and Labrador fourth in the country amongst all provinces and territories when comparing governance, funding, access, the early learning environment, and accountability.

Speaker, our government has been listening and responding to the needs of families, service providers, and the early learning workforce.

We have implemented recruitment and retention initiatives for early childhood educators; we have provided incentives and funding to increase the number of early learning and child care spaces; and we are continuing to ensure that regulated child care is high quality, affordable and inclusive.

Speaker, there are currently 9,100 early learning and child care spaces operating at $10 a day or less in this province, and a further 2,200 spaces are in various stages of development.

Speaker, Budget 2024 has allocated close to $200 million to early learning and child care. We will continue to work with partners throughout the province so that all families are able to access the early learning and child care services that they need.

Thank you.