A much-welcomed phone call came last week to the Portage Day Care Centre about full funding. Executive director Lisa Voth explains an announcement was made by the province.

"It is money that has come from the federal government that the provincial government had to sign for," notes Voth. "So, it's called a bilateral agreement. It's been in the works for quite some time, and it's wonderful news that the Province of Manitoba has actually assigned something so the money can be received."

She explains they're specifically slated to receive full funding for the day care in Southport that opened in September of 2016. Voth adds they've been waiting for quite some time, and received the call notifying them of the funding last Friday, and says the funding's retroactive to October 1st of last year.

She says this will allow the day care to better their program and pay their staff accordingly. Voth says she hoped this kind of news when the agreement was first signed, and it's finally here.

Voth says as far as she can tell it seems the funding will be about $140,000 to an annual budget, without having an exact figure on hand at the moment. This means half of that amount should be coming in a month or so, seeing as October, when the retroactive payment begins, is half of their fiscal year. Difficulties in maintaining their program make the news of the funding incredibly welcome, says Voth.

Other provinces signed the agreement significantly earlier than Manitoba did, she notes. So, child care throughout the province will be put the money to good use.