Daryl Dolynny

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to introduce, to you and through you, one of the residents from Range Lake. She probably doesn’t need any introduction, but Ms. Carmen Moore who is from the office of protocol and she’s one of our best ambassadors that I think we have in the North and, of course, our special guest. Thank you for joining us today. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Volunteers in many organizations are valuable and appreciated assets who make our territory a safe and better place. So when lives are in danger, the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association, or CASARA for short, are such volunteers who are ready, willing and trained to work as spotters alongside our Royal Canadian Air Force, or military aircraft and ground vehicles. With roughly 80 members in Inuvik, Norman Wells, Hay River and Yellowknife, these CASARA NWT volunteers are nationally funded by the Department of National Defence and work in conjunction with 10 provinces...

Upon further analysis, it was evident that even the GNWT volunteer firefighters face similar hurdles when accessing special leave days to maintain their professional qualifications. This begs me to ask: how many other volunteer groups out there who contribute to the safety and security of our residents are affected with this inconsistent policy?

Can the Minister indicate to the House how he and his department will address this shortcoming? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I indicated in my Member’s statement we had an inconsistent application of our human resource five-day special leave provision for our civil air search and rescue and firefighter GNWT volunteers. More specifically, most of the required southern training for these volunteers occurs on weekends. So when these GNWT volunteers want to access special leave days for travel on a Friday and return on a Monday, they are denied by their supervisor. Currently, Mr. Speaker, that travel is not explicitly included in the five-day special leave, and it is within this...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I brought up the issue of poaching hard-earned cash surpluses from our district education school boards in Yellowknife to fund the territorial Junior Kindergarten Program.

As I indicated today, this method of paying for school rollout initiatives is only penalizing school boards that have sound management in place and I believe this will only breed resentment. My questions today are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Prior to making this decision, can the Minister inform the House, did the department undertake a full-scale assessment of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to weigh in on where Mr. Bromley left off, but from a little bit of a different angle on junior kindergarten.

Throughout my time as a Member for Range Lake, I’ve been an unwavering advocate of early childhood development programs. We all know that junior kindergarten is just one component in the ECD Action Plan and I support this government’s decision to bring it on. But I take issue with the government’s method on how we’re paying for it.

Junior kindergarten will roll out across the Northwest Territories beginning with small communities in 2014, followed by...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister may want to go back and talk to his superintendents because the superintendents are being very clear this surplus, a lack of, will affect programming. This approach to funding junior kindergarten effectively curbs the autonomy of district education authorities.

Can the Minister explain what is the rationale behind this autocratic approach? Isn’t there a risk in creating embittered relations between the department and Yellowknife school boards? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

At least the Minister and I agree on one thing, it will have an effect on our mill rate in Yellowknife, and unfortunately, we didn’t do the math.

Can the Minister clarify, prior to making this decision to affect school board surpluses, what type of consultation was undertaken with the boards? Thank you.

When the education renewal action plan is finally tabled, I’ll be watching to see if it receives the infusion of new money it deserves.

This government’s re-profiling antics have to cease. Mr. Speaker, there is no more blood in these stones. Thank you.

School board surpluses are used by school administration to enhance programs or offer unique opportunities for our students which are not funded by any other means.

Can the Minister indicate what effect removing these surpluses will have on such complementary programs for our Yellowknife students? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.