Bob Bromley

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks for all the response. I am happy with that. I didn’t express it well, but I was interrelating whether climate change impacts were having an effect on carry-overs. I think we are starting to get at it: the water levels on the river, the smoke has had an effect on some construction in Yellowknife, delays with the highway shipment and so on. Those sorts of things that, as the Minister said, are not known to be climate change but certainly very consistent with it and possibly related. I think I started to hear a response there. Sorry for the confusion. If there are any...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Following up on my Member’s statement, keeping children with their families is the best way to support and build stronger families, the ultimate goal of child and family services. We need to work with families right when they are struggling, and apprehension needs to be a last resort. Increasing financial support to grandparents to enable care for their grandchild is an appropriate policy goal.

How will the Minister direct the department to reach out to grandparents caring for children not their own, to make it easier for them to accept help? Mahsi.

Nothing further.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The most vulnerable people in our communities are children. They have little control over their circumstances and often are affected by the poor decisions of others. It often falls to the elders, the grandparents, to assume care of the wee ones in the hopes that the parents will return to good health.

Keeping families together this way is something we can all get behind. When grandparents take over care of their children before the kids are apprehended, they get no financial support because they are family. If children are apprehended and then grandparents are allowed to...

This is a complete injustice. Putting logos, companies like this, looking for partners like this to put into the homes, at the dinner table, logos, at an impressionable age aimed at children in their early years when they are most impressionable, a fossil fuel company, the basis of the greatest threat to our civilization, when in fact we are a public government responsible for providing education through our tax revenues. If Chevron is to contribute, if any company is to contribute to the basic fundamental provision of required services like education and health, et cetera, in Canada, they...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I see that Right from the Start for our early childhood development programs, funding is being provided by Chevron – Chevron – to purchase the materials required to fulfil the commitments the department has in early childhood education. I would like to ask, why is the department going to a multi-national fossil fuel company, an industry that is at the greatest foundation threat to civilization ever, for money?

That’s all I had on this page. I appreciate that response. I guess the lead on this is transferring to this Minister next April 1st, as I understand it, but I will look forward to that and moving forward with whatever our priority recommendations are.

Thank you. That explains it right there. I appreciate that. I support both of those initiatives. Updating our food basket, I know the Minister is aware of my support for that and also this transfer to the Housing Corporation. I understand that the food basket and so on is part of an increase over four years, $6.6 million planned increase, so I appreciate that very much.

Just on the income assistance housing clients being transferred to Housing, this hardly touches the need as far as I can detect from my constituents. Is this sort of a test case and is the department contemplating expanding this...

Of course, that report is due any day. It’s a bit of a chicken and egg thing here. I think we’re talking about cost of living and so on for our people. Is there the flexibility, should the report confirm what we have hired experts to tell us, and I assume it would, that we would have the capacity to get going on that legislation pronto?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that and I will look forward to what comes out of that.

My last note is I see we are not really making much adjustment to the arts investment in the grants and contributions. That is just something I really support. I think we have gradually done a better job since the early days of the 16th Assembly, but I think there is more room for achievement here and investment. It has a very well-demonstrated impact on local economies and helping people realize their full potential, obviously, their personal and community identities and cultural aspects. I just raise...