"I am pleased with the agreement signed yesterday in Toronto," said Minister Ballem. "I hope this will mean more money for regulated early childhood programs, more money for service delivery, and more money to help us reach our goals of enhancing early learning and childcare opportunities for children and their families.

"I am happy this agreement recognizes that families play an important role in supporting and nurturing children and that it complements our own Healthy Child Development Strategy," the Minister added.

The Healthy Child Development Strategy is a five-year initiative. Through a community and government partnership, this strategy aims to improve child outcomes on PEI and focuses on children from prenatal to eight years of age. It is monitored by the Premier's Council on Healthy Child Development, which was established by Premier Pat Binns in March 2001. Five provincial government departments work together through the Children's Secretariat, as members of the Children's Working Group.

The Children's Working Group is a broad, inter-sectorial group made up of representatives of community-based organizations working on behalf of children and families.

The recently announced initiative builds on the previous commitment First Ministers made to improve and expand early childhood development programs and services, and to enhance existing programs and services.

Through the Early Childhood Development initiative, provincial and territorial governments receive an annual transfer over a five-year period to introduce, improve, and expand early childhood development programs and services. This initiative provides an opportunity to strengthen existing programs and invest in new ones and helps to support the initiatives of the PEI Healthy Child Development Strategy, including the MIKE program. The Measuring and Improving Kids' Environments (MIKE) project provides program support, training, and development to regulated early childhood centres across the province.

Under the agreement signed in Toronto yesterday, Prince Edward Island will receive about $100,000 in the first year, through the Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST).

"Although the funding is limited in the first year," said Minister Ballem, "I am anticipating that this initiative will mean more opportunities for the PEI Children's Secretariat and the Early Childhood Development Association to continue their work to evaluate and improve the quality of regulated early learning and child care centres across the province.

"When this important evaluation process is completed, we will be in a better position to plan for the best use of the resources outlined in the framework," said Jamie Ballem.