Thursday, March 4, 2010

Prorogation's impact on education (amended)

Just got the confirmation, as widely expected, that Lt. Gov. David Onley has prorogued the legislature and will deliver the speech from the throne on March 8.
In real terms, MPPs finished their day early today and return to work on Monday for the new session along with the speech from the throne. The government release points out members won't lose any legislative days due to the prorogation.
Bill 242, introduced just a few weeks ago, will need to be reintroduced early in this legislative session. An all-party agreement in December allowed certain pieces of government legislation to be extended beyond and prorogation. The minister's office confirmed Thursday afternoon that Bill 242 is one such piece of legislation. It was referred to committee Thursday prior to prorogation. It wouldn't surprise me to hear in the speech a few reference's to the Ontario government's intent to carry forward with implementation of year one of the Early Learning Program. Amidst fiscal restraint, I don't see the Liberals cutting back on this.
I'll be curious to see whether the re-introduced version of Bill 242 (whatever it ends up being) is dramatically that different than the one that's on the books today.
The committee can begin its work on the bill Monday.
Meanwhile, the clock is ticking...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting indeed on many levels ER.

I would imagine that there a many other Bills in this same boat.

I have to say though that the excitement around ELP dulled down very, very quickly. Maybe much quicker once school boards figured out how much this is all going to cost them?

I remain cautious about all of this as more layoffs are announced in my community and the municipal child care centre decides to cut its summer programs due to fewer children all around.

Education Reporter said...

Check the amended post.

Hugo