Alfred Moses

Yes, it is a priority of this government to provide early childhood development childcare as well, and in those 11 communities, I do agree with the Member that what is needed in Paulatuk is not needed the same here in Yellowknife. I think, with the junior kindergarten program, we have opened up more spaces here in Yellowknife. The new daycare opening last month was something that was very beneficial to families here in Yellowknife, and I will continue to work with groups and organizations to get the licensing and make sure that anyone who wants to open up daycare or childcare spaces, that we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Any constituent's issues that the Member has coming by, I encourage you to come and see me at my office, and we can do it on a case-by-case basis. Our government has made improvements to subsidies that we give to all of our daycares throughout the Northwest Territories. We have 11 communities that currently do not have daycare services or access throughout the NWT, and that is a focus and a priority to try to get childcare and daycare services to those 11 communities that currently do not have that.

We do have a junior kindergarten program that we have implemented...

Setting minimum wage to increase with inflation could limit our ability to explore other options for adjusting the minimum wage rate. We do have a Minimum Wage Committee that does a lot of work on behalf of the government and brings back options. They do that every two years. As you know, NWT CTR rates are based on Yellowknife. If there were any links to that, it would adversely affect some of our more northern and more isolated communities that do even have a higher cost of living, if we looked at doing something with that as it is based on costs here in Yellowknife.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and as the Member has mentioned, it is not only the NWT Child Benefit that we made improvements to and changes to with our income assistance benefits that exempted income intended to help with the costs of raising children, but we also looked at the child support payments. That was further to the work that we did with the Canada Child Benefit, and we made changes there.

I can assure the Member that any individuals and families in the Northwest Territories who are unable to meet their basic financial needs can also access assistance through GNWT social programming, and we...

Yes, we did sign off on an agreement with the Government of Canada to provide more early childhood programming throughout the Northwest Territories. We are waiting on the signing from the federal government in order to make sure that the action plan that we are developing through that signing was agreed to by both parties. We will get information and send that to committee in a letter to give them an update on how we are using those dollars to provide affordable and accessible childcare throughout the NWT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I mentioned, we have made changes to our childcare subsidy programs. Myself and the Member from Yellowknife Centre actually attended the opening of the new daycare here in Yellowknife and increased spaces that allowed for more of all ages that can access the daycare programs.

As I mentioned, we have provided junior kindergarten to fouryearolds across the territory, which on average saves anywhere from $8,000 to $12,000 for families that put their children into the junior kindergarten program. There is a lot of work that has been done, and we continue to work with our daycares to make sure...

Not at this time. As I said, we are in our first year of the NWT Child Benefit. We need to look at the evaluations, look how this has affected our families right across the Northwest Territories. As I mentioned, any families or individuals who do need that extra support for the basic needs, our government is always there to support and help and provide the most basic needs for our families across the NWT, and we will continue to do so. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Member mentioned the living wage. The living wage reflects what earners need to bring home to live an acceptable quality of life. I just want to inform Members and the public that there is no jurisdiction in Canada currently that has legislated a living wage as part of its minimum wage policy.

As a government, collectively with Housing, Health, my Department of Education, Culture and Employment, we do provide a lot of services to help low- to modestincome families, and we continue to look at doing those supports. As I mentioned, we are really in our first year of the NWT Child Benefit. I...

Mr. Speaker, the social fabric of a small community is one of its strengths. Close family ties and a strong sense of community belonging are enduring characteristics and cannot be understated when residents make important life choices for their employment, education, and skills training.

This government made a commitment to support small communities by developing and implementing a strategy to increase training and employment in all communities. This is a part of our mandate, to enhance the Small Community Employment Support Program and develop and implement a strategy to increase employment...

Yes.