Julie Green

I would like to thank my friend and my colleague Mr. Nadli for his words. I know that they are spoken in truth and from the heart. I also know that the voters of the Deh Cho made the right choice in returning him to this Assembly as their MLA because he is a very good MLA. I very much appreciate the wisdom that he brings to our debates, as he has done here today. That said, we are not on the same page.

I want to talk about a couple of things. The reason that we are talking about family violence and not drunk driving or theft or a number of other crimes is because of the prevalence of family...

Mr. Chair, I have heard some justifiable concerns from my colleagues about the need for greater definition around the phrase "exceptional circumstances" and some clarity about how this is going to work in the context of eligibility for being a candidate in the territorial election. I think that that is a worthy question, and I believe it is worth the committee's time to examine it, and to provide some clarification to it, and bring it back to this House for further consideration. Thank you.

I could make one. I move that recommendation number 2 of the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures report entitled "You Are Standing for Your People" be referred back to the Rules and Procedures Committee for further clarification. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I just want to go back to the point at which this motion was passed and sent to the committee on rules and procedures. We had not been here long enough to find the washrooms and most of us had come in as brand new Members following an unprecedented turnover of incumbent MLAs.

What I and others came in on was a wave of hope for change and increased accountability. There was a feeling among people in the electorate that people in this room were taking too much for granted in terms of their privilege and their position and that it was time for us to re-examine that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, we have been joined by several members of the Family Violence Coalition of the NWT, including David Wasylciw, Sami Thomas, Annemieke Mulders and Lyda Fuller. I'd like to welcome them to the House to hear our discussions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister's plan is going to provide the lowest common denominator of early childhood education, where there will only be junior kindergarten and plain daycare. An alternative to this would be to provide a subsidy for each child of four years of age rather than to a whole program. I asked him if he would examine this option, which on the face of it would save a lot of money -- it is less than half the cost of having a child in a school classroom -- and report on his research, but I haven't heard back. Does this research exist? Thank you.

I appreciate the Minister's commitment to check with the department to see whether there has ever been an analysis done about the financial viability of the programs. It is my understanding that ECE offers a subsidy to existing programs like Montessori because they meet the department's licensing requirements. Does the Minister believe his department has any responsibility to ensure these programs remain viable?

Mahsi, colleagues. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, how are existing pre-school programs going to stay in business without four-year-olds? This is a serious question. I am not aware that ECE is planning to increase early childhood development subsidies to these programs. A very real possibility from the introduction of JK is that parents will have less choice in the future than they have now, whatever their income. I will have questions for the Minister. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this, in fact, is not circular. This is the first time this motion has been considered by this House, and so we are asking to be able to respond to the feedback that we have received here in a constructive way, and to bring this motion back.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and just a quick thanks to the staff for drafting this on the fly. Mr. Chair, I move that Committee Motion 91-18(2) as contained in Committee Report 7-18(2): Report on the Review of the Members' Conduct Guidelines and the proposed amendment thereto be referred to the Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures for further consideration in accordance with Rule 58(e). Thank you, Mr. Chair.