Caroline Cochrane

I do have to give credit to this Assembly, all of our Members. The implementation of junior kindergarten has provided free childcare spaces, free early childhood development programming to all four-year-olds throughout the Northwest Territories. Over 500 children are taking advantage of this currently. That is only a start. I know we still have zero to three to do. It is not only about spaces. Every community is different. That is what is really important to notice. Smaller communities, when they only have three or four kids who might need daycare, does it make sense to have a full centre...

The Member is probably right. My assumption of what guaranteed basic income was based on my own thinking. The research that I have done has mostly been on TED Talks. One of the Members actually shared with me some information on it. I was a little bit startled on it. I am more than interested in meeting with the Member if she wants to sit with me and educate me further on what basic guaranteed income is, because I think it is something we need to look at, as well.

What more support: there is more than just the start-up money, the safety money, and the expanding. There are the daily rates. Right...

I do appreciate the Member's acknowledgment that our capital budget is being passed. We are at the end of the Legislative Assembly. There will be no new capital budgets coming forward in the term of this Assembly. I mean we have a 20-year capital plan, so, even when I found out there were difficulties with a roof in a school, it was a stress. I had to go for supplementary funding for that. So there is no extra money at this point to actually provide capital for daycare centres. It is quite expensive. I think that, one, we need to put it in a transition report. I think we need to remember...

Eleven communities not having any daycare services, it identifies a problem. It is a bigger problem than that. Many communities, not only do they not have daycares, they don't have any early childhood development support whatsoever. I have said over and over in the House how important it is to have supports for parents and for children. Not all parents have babies and know how to take care of them. I, myself, with my first child, didn't even know how to bathe my baby. We need supports for parents. The 11 communities, however, Mr. Speaker, the majority are smaller communities. The number of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to once again recognize a constituent, a Page of ours from Range Lake, Brooke Vallis, and, of course, all the other Pages who have done a fantastic job. I really want to pick out Brooke because, even though it's the second time I've recognized her, as the Minister of the Status of Women, I'm hoping that this is the beginning of a long-time look at what you can be when you decide. This is a viable career that I'd like you for you to consider, as well, entering politics. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I, as well, will not be supporting this motion. As I have said previously and many times, society is based on how we treat our most marginalized populations. It would be very hypocritical of me to look at any type of increase, no matter what, until society is treating those who struggle to provide food on their table with a decent level of care. I cannot, in all honesty, ethically support this motion. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's well-known that my degree is in social work, and the basic concept of social work is wellness; mental wellness, as well. Never in my career have I ever been in a position that I have had so many people appreciate my work and so many people hate me for my work. I am a degreed social worker. I have had 20-some years' experience in that. I know self-care, I know where to go for clinical support for myself. I'm not 100 percent sure that other people do have that.

The other issue is that, when you leave here, depending on how you do in this House, you might not be offered...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Leg, that Bill 48, Post-Secondary Education Act, be read for the second time.

This bill creates a structure for the recognition of post-secondary institutions within the Northwest Territories. The bill:

• prohibits the establishment or operation of a university without the consent of the Minister and an Act of the Legislative Assembly;

• prohibits the granting of a degree or the offering of any degree program without the authorization of the Minister; and

• allows a college to be recognized under the Act if its establishment...

I am absolutely going to develop a plan that has money attached to it. We will have what we are currently paying, what we project that it would cost, and the feasibility of that. Accessible daycare is not only about money that we provide to the daycares. I also want to say that, in partnership with the federal government, we are also providing scholarships. It used to be 10. Now, we provide 30 scholarships for the residents from the Territories to go in and take the early childhood development programming. We have expanded our programming at Aurora College to offer a two-year diploma in early...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I also am going to support this motion. For many years, I was a single parent, and childcare was always a barrier. Women traditionally are known to make less income. This is not the same in the Legislative Assembly, but it used to be, in a time when women were told, and I am going to be kind of blunt, that, "You make your bed. You lie in it." So women stayed in relationships, in my mother's day, throughout their lives, happy or not. Those times have changed. We now have more single parents. The majority of them tend to be women, although there are men who are single...