Katrina Nokleby

Thank you. I apologize, without having my spot, I'm just going to ask one of the complaints that I'm hearing from seniors is around the processes of being reimbursed for issues and having to pay out of pocket first. And I apologize if this is actually not under the mandate but I'm just going to ask because I can't find my page.

Is there work to improve or change that policy towards making it less burdensome on seniors to get the money for their hearing aids or vaccines, etcetera? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to go back to something that the Minister just said around contacting the union back in the fall.

It's my understanding that the union responded with several questions as well, and there was a very a large lack of engagement during the fall time and then into the new year at which point the union was presented with a take it or leave it.

Is it not maybe the Minister could speak to the fact that isn't it under the collective agreement that the government has a responsibility to negotiate with the union and not present take it or leave it scenarios...

Thank you for that. I think that the Minister's colleague over at ECE might want to have some of this be taken care of so we can create some of those day home spaces that seem to be needed under our new policies. And I'm going to move on here. This one actually has so much in it. And really I feel that I would be remiss to not comment that this is one of the most important priorities for myself. I think if our communities are stronger, then Yellowknife will only be stronger so even though it's not riding.

My next question is around the makerspace programs. It does say that it is fulfilled and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to rise to acknowledge the members from Cheetah Resources that are here, as well Mr. Bill Braden is my constituent in Great Slave and formerly held my seat. I did not do my statement on Cheetah Resources today, but I think everybody knows how I feel about our resource extraction industry and I can't support them enough. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In favour.

In favour.

In favour.

In favour.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, the Minister raises some other issues that I sort of struggled to wrap my head around.

As we look at this subsidy, one of the things that I've been hearing is that in the communities without licensed daycare spots, a lot of times it's family, it's grandparents, all of that, that are providing the daycare or the services. So to me, it seems to make sense if we could look out a way outside of the box in order to pay family members in those communities so that the communities can actually get some benefit out of this subsidy.

So is the government committed to finding...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

What is considered to be a living wage in each of the communities where childcare is expected, and what is our plan to ensure that childcare providers can pay that wage to workers as part of the subsidized program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.