Margaret McCain donates $10M to Halifax's Mount Saint Vincent University
Margaret Norrie McCain has donated $10 million to Mount Saint Vincent University to support teaching and research on early childhood education.
The Halifax university says it's the largest gift in the school's 150-year history.
McCain's philanthropic foundation has made early childhood education its main focus, and she was among the proponents for Ottawa's 2021 commitment to make a $27-billion investment in child care over five years.
The former lieutenant governor of New Brunswick has long argued for universal, high quality child care, tied in with the public education system, and organized to support parents' work and study.
The donation will support the research, teaching and programs at the university's child and youth study department and its child study centre.
Christine McLean, chair of the university's department of child and youth study, said McCain's donation helps build the training system for early childhood educators as the field evolves into a better-paid, better-trained profession.
She said it's expected the gift will be turned into an endowment, and provide annual contributions to the department's budget, as it prepares about 400 students for positions in the province's early childhood education centres.
The university offers both undergraduate degrees and graduate degrees in the field, and has also set up agreements with community colleges that allow students to extend their two-year diplomas into university degrees.
McLean said creating a well-trained workforce is a crucial element of a revamped child care system, as the province uses its federal funding agreement to reduce parent fees and increase spaces.
She said the five-year wage for an early childhood educator in a licensed centre is $25 an hour, but the hope is that wages and benefits for the in-demand workers will increase as education levels improve -- similar to what occurred in nursing and other professions.
The department chair said that in order for Nova Scotia to meet its current goal of 9,500 new child care spaces by 2026, it will require an additional 1,000 workers in the sector.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2023.
For more Nova Scotia news visit our dedicated provincial page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
From essential goods to common stocking stuffers, Trudeau offering Canadians temporary tax relief
Canadians will soon receive a temporary tax break on several items, along with a one-time $250 rebate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday.
She thought her children just had a cough or fever. A mother shares sons' experience with walking pneumonia
A mother shares with CTVNews.ca her family's health scare as medical experts say cases of the disease and other respiratory illnesses have surged, filling up emergency departments nationwide.
Trump chooses Pam Bondi for attorney general pick after Gaetz withdraws
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump on Thursday named Pam Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida, to be U.S. attorney general just hours after his other choice, Matt Gaetz, withdrew his name from consideration.
A one-of-a-kind Royal Canadian Mint coin sells for more than $1.5M
A rare one-of-a-kind pure gold coin from the Royal Canadian Mint has sold for more than $1.5 million. The 99.99 per cent pure gold coin, named 'The Dance Screen (The Scream Too),' weighs a whopping 10 kilograms and surpassed the previous record for a coin offered at an auction in Canada.
Putin says Russia attacked Ukraine with a new missile that he claims the West can't stop
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Thursday that Moscow has tested a new intermediate-range missile in a strike on Ukraine, and he warned that it could use the weapon against countries that have allowed Kyiv to use their missiles to strike Russia.
Here's a list of items that will be GST/HST-free over the holidays
Canadians won't have to pay GST on a selection of items this holiday season, the prime minister vowed on Thursday.
Video shows octopus 'hanging on for dear life' during bomb cyclone off B.C. coast
Humans weren’t the only ones who struggled through the bomb cyclone that formed off the B.C. coast this week, bringing intense winds and choppy seas.
Taylor Swift's motorcade spotted along Toronto's Gardiner Expressway
Taylor Swift is officially back in Toronto for round two. The popstar princess's motorcade was seen driving along the Gardiner Expressway on Thursday afternoon, making its way to the downtown core ahead of night four of ‘The Eras Tour’ at the Rogers Centre.
Service Canada holding back 85K passports amid Canada Post mail strike
Approximately 85,000 new passports are being held back by Service Canada, which stopped mailing them out a week before the nationwide Canada Post strike.