Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The second point relates to early childhood education, the goal of which is to provide a K‑12 continuum of learning, from kindergarten to grade 12.
The federal government, represented by the Department of Canadian Heritage, in collaboration with the Ontario Ministry of Education, recently granted increased funding in the amount of $4.2 million to the Conseil scolaire catholique du Nouvel‑Ontario. That money will support the completion of a major expansion: a new child care centre in our new school being built in the Val Thérèse, Hanmer, and Capreol districts. We want to thank the federal government again for this considerable financial support. There will be 88 new places in this modern child care centre, which will accommodate infants, toddlers and preschool aged children, who will thus be able to embark on their learning path in a French first language Catholic school environment.
This important, decisive and extraordinary funding will enable us to respond to a glaring need for much desired places in schools and support our future parents and future students, since the waiting lists are enormous at present. Obviously, the federal government, in collaboration with the provinces, is strongly encouraged to continue offering essential financial support through its action plan for official languages. The experts confirm that exposing our future students earlier to French as a first language is a determining factor in their later success in the K‑12 learning continuum.
The third concern is the violation of section 23 and failure to respect our governance in French as a first language. The 1990 Mahe decision gave francophones the right to manage their schools. This essential right was entrenched in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 1982, by the Supreme Court of Canada, applying section 23, specifically. It is still a leading legal tool for guaranteeing our governance in our French first language school boards.
We have actually seen for some time that successive Ontario governments do not seem open to recognizing and respecting this fact. Recently, we have seen various sworn statements made in cases heard by the Ontario Court of Justice that make it plain what risk that francophone school boards are at, because of the underfunding of transportation and allocation of new capital projects, among other things. It is important to note that several of the boards are currently in a deficit situation because of this underfunding. I want to reiterate the importance for us all of having our fair share of the market and being properly funded, for the future of our students and the survival of our French first language schools.
My fourth point is the conceptual framework for developing educational leadership. For several years, the Conseil ontarien des directions de l'éducation de langue française has been calling on the Ontario government to allocate funds to the school boards so they can set up leadership and mentoring programs to support senior managers and managers in the schools and in the councils' own services. It would be good if the government prioritized ad hoc funding precisely to ensure that there is an adequate pool of people with preparation in leadership to fill these positions in the years to come.