Kevin O'Reilly

Thanks, Madam Chair. I want to thank the social development committee for allowing me to sit in on some of their discussions. I support these changes that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment made, and I want to commend the Minister and his department for these creative changes made during the pandemic. We have to make sure that they actually stay in place. That's the purpose of this motion.

We had the release of the integrated case management program recently the Minister tabled a report in the House. It's a very good report that says a lot of good things about integrated case...

Thanks, Madam Chair. I feel obligated to say something about where we went with some of this stuff as a committee. Committees started to meet during the pandemic electronically. Of course, we were quite preoccupied by what was happening during the pandemic. We were trying to find ways to provide advice, recommendations to our Cabinet colleagues. Each of the standing committees has come up with its own report.

With this particular recommendation, I was a Member of the last Assembly, and towards the end, the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment did bring forward a report on...

Thanks, Madam Chair. I just want to get some assurance from the Minister that this is not just giving notice to the standing committee. If the committee has concerns or issues with a particular order, that Cabinet would seriously consider any representations that might be raised by the committee; Regular MLAs, essentially? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. How would the public actually know about these extensions or variations? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I guess maybe I will paraphrase what I think I heard in some plainer language, but I want to thank our witness for saying that. As I understand it, this bill really is about ensuring business continuity so that businesses, small businesses in particular, can continue to operate if they have licences or permits or things that have expired. It could also be used to extend appointments for boards where they might lose quorum. Appointments, that kind of thing, and maybe places where individuals could be severely inconvenienced if a driver's licence expires. They need to travel...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I stand in support of the motion. There are a growing number of seniors across the Northwest Territories, and I am one of them, or will be soon enough. Part of the issue here, I think, Mr. Speaker, is that the issue of seniors cuts across several departments within this government; Health and Social Services, Housing, Municipal and Community Affairs. Most of our departments have some responsibility, some part of their programs and services that are dedicated and targeted toward seniors, but we don't really have a whole-of-government approach, and I think that's...

Thanks, Madam Chair. This recommendation dovetails very nicely with the fourth recommendation in the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Environment report where we wanted a costed plan for upgrading Internet access across the NWT to Canadian standards by September 1st. I hope that when Cabinet responds positively to that recommendation, we can work together and deal with the two at the same time. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that fabulous display of Cabinet solidarity. More seriously, I do appreciate his commitment on this file. He has done a lot of work in the department, as well. I commend him for his commitment to work with childcare providers moving forward. Of course, we are still in a pandemic. I have raised the issue of lessons learned several times in this House, Mr. Speaker. One of those lessons learned is that we need to continue to improve access to affordable childcare. Can the Minister tell us how he and his department intend to approach...

Thanks, Madam Chair. I support this motion. On the very last day of our sitting in March, I was asking questions about getting regular updates to the then-COVID-19 Web page that the department of health had set up, and eventually we did evolve into a single website. I had recommended much before that that we have one single portal, and we're finally there, so I support this.

I also think that we need to improve and have an understanding of what the communications are going to be between Cabinet and Regular MLAs if there is another pandemic or a second wave. I think we've all learned from this...

That is the kind of answer I am looking for. Thank you to the Minister. There has been almost $5 million designated to support early childhood care and education during the COVID-19 pandemic by GNWT. Supports include a subsidy to lower childcare costs for essential service workers, wage top-ups, funding for cleaning supplies, and money available to assist with reopening. Of course, we don't want to take steps backwards. The child carers would like to maintain this positive momentum. Will the Minister commit to continuing these additional supports for childcare beyond the COVID-19 pandemic?