Jackson Lafferty

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I would like to thank the Member for addressing this particular area where it’s been addressed in the House as well. I did show interest a while ago, how the Finnish overhauled their education structure. This is an area that my department has been exploring and continues to do so because we have to learn from the best practices from other jurisdictions as well. If this is an area that will benefit the Northwest Territories, by all means, we will tackle that issue. It is at preliminary stages. We’re still compiling that information. It’s not only in that country, other...

Mahsi, Madam Chair. Obviously, when I talk about the passive restraint, we haven’t touched the school boards and also the Aurora College. More specifically to passive restraints, obviously it had an impact on our department, all the departments across the Northwest Territories. So I’ve been dealing with the school boards and the college on this particular subject, notifying them that we’re not going there at this time. I’ve respected that and I continue to work closely with the school boards at this level.

The whole ERI, Education Renewal and Innovation, obviously it’s a large initiative, it’s...

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. We have a deputy minister. Today we have a deputy minister, we have an associate deputy minister, we have an assistant deputy minister, two of them. Now we have added Olin Lovely. We’re going to have Dana Heide soon to retire. Basically, Olin is taking over Dana Heide’s position. At the end of the day, it’s still the same numbers. It’s just a change of titles.

Yes, I do, Madam Chair.

There is, obviously, a 20-year plan for schools, Yellowknife and also across the Northwest Territories. Based on that, if there is a need for a retrofit or a renovation or replacement of schools, those are discussions that we need to have, my department and the PWS, and put into the hopper of the capital planning process. I don’t have that information in front of me. We will be debating that. We will be putting forward a proposal on the infrastructure that will be coming forward. What the Member is referring to, obviously the Yellowknife area, if there is going to be any infrastructure coming...

As I indicated earlier, we’re open to some ideas on how we can generate funding, based, obviously, on students. Currently, it’s based on students. Those are discussions that we need to have with the local organizations and also the DECs and DEAs as well.

Mr. Chair, part of the plan is to decentralize these positions and then fill the positions from there. Mahsi.

Obviously, ECE supports healthy foods in our school system. The growing program, obviously, we’ve heard just recently, as well, and we believe and support innovative thinking. How can we have those vegetables in our school system as possibly part of our lunch program? So, we’re open to those ideas. I have to work with the local DEAs and DECs, if they’re acceptable to that initiative. I need to sit down with my counterparts and see where we can go from there, but this is a brilliant idea that we should carry forward.

Mr. Chair, yes, that’s correct.

Since that information came to light in my department, we have been working very closely on ways to share relevant inspection information in a format that allows parents to make informed decisions on child care while, at the same time, protecting the privacy of child care staff. My department is also committed to making inspection information available to the public, and this will be available starting 2015-16. We’re making improvements within our department and we’re moving forward on that. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.