Source: Telegraph-Journal, February 18, 2013
By Jennifer Pritchett
Excerpt: Philanthropist Margaret McCain is calling on the federal government to create a national early childhood development strategy for a public system that will give children a better life start.
"It's absolutely necessary," she said, in an interview.
Through the Margaret and Wallace McCain Family Foundation, McCain and her late husband have donated millions to early childhood education in Canada and the subject continues to be one of her great passions.
On Friday, she visited the Early Learning Centre in Saint John, one of the early childhood development sites in the province that has benefited from her generosity and expertise. The centre, located at St. John the Baptist-King Edward School in the city's south end, is a facility where preschool-age children attend early childhood programming. It's in its fourth year of operation.
McCain would like to see this type of facility used as a model for others across the province and the country. "We want to change outcomes for New Brunswick and to benefit New Brunswick, it has to happen throughout the province,"she said.
McCain pointed to how Canada lags behind other countries for child care and outcomes for children according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Also from the Telegraph-Journal, Feburary 19, 2013:
"Support universal early education" (editorial)
Margaret Norrie McCain is regarded as a gracious and enterprising lieutenant governor and one of New Brunswick's foremost philanthropists. To thousands of families, though, her legacy means something much more personal - the difference between effective education and ignorance.
Mrs. McCain and her late husband, Wallace, have donated millions of dollars to early childhood education. This week, she called upon the federal government to create a national early childhood development strategy. Mrs. McCain recently visited one of the centres that she believes could be used as a model nationwide - the Early Learning Centre at St. John the Baptist-King Edward School in Saint John's south end.
It has been in operation for four years, and the pre-school lessons that students learn there are transforming how Canadians think about education. Canada's education system is routinely outperformed by schools in other nations, ranging from the social democracies of northern Europe to communist Cuba.
Mrs. McCain has drawn attention to the reason for this gap - the failure of most provinces to realize the importance of universal early childhood education. We are proud that New Brunswick has been among the first provinces to apply these lessons, and we sincerely hope that MPs, senators and Prime Minister Stephen Harper will see the value of applying them nationwide. So much of each child's development potential is unlocked in early childhood. Shouldn't the public education system begin in the years when the most fundamental lessons are being learned?