Thank you, Madam Chair. Just for clarity sake, I wouldn't want people to believe that district education authorities or councils have been breaking the law. What they have been operating, in addition to a half-day kindergarten program, is early childhood programming, which hasn't been subject to the kindergarten curriculum. That has been a local decision. They felt it was important enough to bring this sort of program into the school, and we certainly allow that kind of flexibility.
As the Member will note from the last sentence in my opening comments, we have advanced the issue of funding, and being able to provide the full-day funding, as part of the current business planning process. So we are very hopeful that we will be able to provide the funding to allow the boards to offer full-day programming. But since the Education Act only requires that students attend between the ages of six and 15, we aren't going to say to the boards that they have to provide the programming. If in a community there isn't the interest in the program, then there's no point in forcing a board to deliver. That's why we're making it available as an option, and where that option is taken up, I believe we'll be able to support it financially.
