The environment is not the only thing on the B.C. Green Party’s agenda with early childhood education also being at the forefront.

Party leader Sonia Furstenau, a former teacher, would like to see the ministry of State for Childcare moved into the Ministry for Education.

She said on the NL Morning News, that educationally speaking, the years before entering first grade can be among the most important of our lives. “Three year old and four year old, early childhood education is some of the most formative learning years a child can have and those years can set that child on the path for success for their entire education career and really through their life.”

Furstenau thinks it would not only benefit children, but also many parents as we fight through the pandemic. “The most important investment we can make as part of COVID recovery is in early childhood education.”

“It establishes that foundation for learning but it also opens up that space for parents to get back to work, particularly women who have been hit very hard by COVID-19 and the economic downturn. We do not want to lose women from the workforce”

Furstenau feels early childhood education should be made available to all kids in the British Columbia. “Every child has access to those two years of early childhood education and it’s not a matter of can I afford it? Can I find the space? No. Just like you can expect your child to have a space to go into kindergarten you can absolutely expect your child to have a space in early childhood programs 25 hour a week for three year old and four year olds.”

Furstenau spoke of her own early childhood education experience. “I had the great gift of being one of earliest children to have a year of early childhood education.”

“One year, I came out I was able to read and write but most importantly I had, in my mind, come to conceptualize myself as a successful learner and that has stayed with me for my whole entire life.”