Sad news indeed. I know we want to work on those statistics and improve them. The latest research shows that development of the brain and its neural pathways are largely established by age three.

How does this scientific evidence compare with the Minister of Education’s understanding of how a child’s mind develops and how does he think this evidence should change the way we educate our children or assist them in development? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize Shane Clark. I can’t really see if he’s still up there, but Shane is the proud father, I know, of a couple of our Pages here, twins Sophie and Grace Clark. Welcome to the House.

I’d like to also, at this time, express appreciation to our Pages once again for all the service they’ve provided during this very busy session. Our long-suffering Pages in particular from Weledeh, besides Sophie and Grace we’ve also had Shiri MacPherson, who is the daughter of our Law Clerk, Sheila MacPherson. We’ve also had Niva Stephenson and Jacob Schubert. Again, thank...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I began reviewing the Education Renewal Initiative, anticipating a statement detailing its failures. Wrong. In fact, I was impressed and offer my compliments to the people who have worked so hard to develop it and bring it forward.

The plan draws on research which reveals the need to teach, or a competency-based model that works better with how a child’s brain actually functions, with more integration of learning across subjects. Self-worth is recognized as essential for success in school for everyone.

More than knowledge and skills, learning involves the integration of...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thanks to the Minister for his opening remarks. I just want to put in a word here of appreciation, on behalf of the folks in Detah and all those that use that road, to my colleagues and to the Minister and all my colleagues in the House for approving this or proposing this expenditure.

It’s been a very long time. I think people know that the road was originally just thrown in almost on an incidental basis. They got a tractor out there and basically put soil and gravel on top of the vegetation. It wasn’t even properly cleared. As a result, it’s suffered a lot of problems...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 8 on the Order Paper. Thank you.

---Unanimous consent granted

Mr. Speaker, the data are crystal clear. The research is crystal clear. Brain development primarily takes place by age three and development of the neuro pathways takes place by age three, so the focus needs to be in the ages zero to three. Research is also showing that starting kindergarten at age four with junior kindergarten does not provide net benefits to learning over normal kindergarten programs, as my colleague Ms. Bisaro has outlined.

Given this evidence, does the Minister agree that, because the most important brain development occurs from age zero to three, that establishing junior...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement earlier today with questions to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment specifically related to the Education Renewal Initiative. I’d like to focus on the latest research on how our children are doing. We have been testing young children approaching school age with a test called the Early Development Indicator. Could the Minister confirm that the latest data from the Early Development Indicator work is showing that 35 to 60 percent of children approaching school age in our smaller communities have development...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Briefly, yes, I agree that this motion is premature. I agree that we do need to do something with the process if we can find something will really move it forward and be supported widely. Really, making it binding, making the Electoral Boundaries Commission report binding depends on us giving them good instructions from the start, and based on my modicum of experience to date compared to Mr. Miltenberger, I don’t think we’re there yet where we can reliably know that we are always going to give good instructions.

I am comfortable that the courts are available as backup if...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just a couple quick comments and I appreciated the discussions and many of the viewpoints raised and I agree with many, if not most.

I’d say – without detracting from Mrs. Groenewegen’s point about the role of MLAs, which I agreed with – nobody wants more MLAs and a more expensive government if we can avoid it. That’s the key part. Yet, given our current process, just about the only way we can achieve fair representation is by adding MLAs.

I think Mr. Miltenberger laid out a very key point, we haven’t asked how much government do we need. Many of us have asked that...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’m pleased to participate in this debate today and discussion of the final report. I’d like to thank the Electoral Boundaries Commission for their work. Trying to penetrate this quagmire, it is certainly never an easy job or an easy process, but I think we do recognize that and try and provide some helpful guidelines, specifically the plus or minus 25 percent goal for fair representation; that is every riding should be within 25 percent of the mean population, the average number of people per riding in order to be considered fair representation, and that we should give...