Bob Bromley

I’ll leave it at that, Madam Chair. I know there are many efforts around the world now for zero consumption, zero net consumption buildings and I know this department is interested in making progress in that direction. So, I’ll look forward to further gains there. I’ll leave it at that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I had a couple of questions on this page. I see the Early Childhood Worker Grant Program is increased over last year, and I’m happy to see that. How has the uptake been on that so far this year and what sort of increase does this mean for workers? I know that early childhood workers’ salaries are typically much lower than the value that we put on them, so I support this program. I’m just wondering about the update and how that’s working.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know asset management is obviously a huge program for the government. This division has been doing a lot of work on the utilities and so on. Where are we at on the utility side for asset maintenance, or is that in another division? The intent of moving it all into this department was to be able to see where the opportunities for savings were and act on those. I’m just wondering where we are on that.

Also, there is a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions element to that, which is in this division. If I could just get general comments on where we’re at with respect to our...

Thanks to the Minister. Obviously, we know the policy and it’s not working. I’m asking the Minister to do some outreach and make sure that the grandparents know what options are available to them. Just saying that this is available to them does not do the job. Some grandparents who are fostering grandchildren informally have incomes that disqualify them from receiving support either financially or for housing issues that arise as a result of the unplanned expansion of their families, consideration needs to be given to revising voluntary agreements so struggling grandparents more easily qualify...

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?