Thanks, Madam Chair. I think you called on me. I move that consideration of Tabled Document 96719(2) Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 20232024, be now concluded and that Tabled Document 96719(2) be reported and recommended as ready for further consideration in formal session through the form of an appropriation bill. Mahsi, Madam la Presidente.

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. Yeah, I would certainly strongly encourage Cabinet to do that. I don't think it's in anyone's interest to see a special warrant issued in that just in the interest of accountability and transparency, there is obviously financial need for these areas and I think that the appropriate way to deal with it is through supplementary appropriation and not a special warrant, so and I think I saw the Minister shaking her head yes.

The last question, perhaps, Madam Chair, is or maybe one more comment after that very quickly what is Cabinet doing to try to secure any federal...

Yeah, okay. Thanks, yeah, now I'm really worried. So does Cabinet anticipate anything to bring forward a special warrant or that sort of instrument during the sort of caretaker period between the end of this Assembly and the election of the next Cabinet to help cover firefighting and/or other costs? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I know I'm the only thing that stands between the Members and their lunch but I do owe it to my constituents and the public to explain how I'm going to vote on this bill.

This bill, what it does or what happened, of course, is that about 50 percent of the capital spending for 20222023 was not spent. The authorized capital was not spent. So what this does would increase capital spending by about $125 million pushing it to levels higher than five of the last six years and so the over budgeting that's happening here for capital, I can't support this. What it does is...

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thanks the Minister again for that. It's really helpful to get this information out there because clearly there's different views out there or whatever. So professional teachers, though, on the frontline are telling me that they're not ready for this rollout and they're not prepared.

So how is the Minister going to act now to address these concerns and determine whether an implementation delay on the new BC curriculum is needed? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. It's very helpful to get this information on the record and out there.

Another issue is that the department says transition must happen before the contract with Alberta Education ends for the administration of diploma exams. But, Mr. Speaker, this really shouldn't matter. Students did not write diploma exams while learning remotely during the pandemic. So will the Minister look at revising the timeline for this exam's requirement or eliminate it? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Merci, Monsieur le President. In August 2023, grade 4 to 6 and grade 9 classes in all NWT schools will be transitioning from the Alberta curriculum of studies to the BC system. All other school grades will transition in subsequent years.

While ECE officials have been working on this for years, teachers working directly with students have not. The word I've received is that teachers are not ready to make this transition because the basic groundwork has not been done. I've been told that ECE put together a number of working groups to adapt the BC curriculum to an NWT perspective, and that is very...

Sorry, Mr. Speaker, I'm not finished yet. So I again owe to my constituents and the public to explain how I'm going to vote on this one. I'm very concerned that the supplementary reserve will be exceeded on this very first sup for 20232024 on the operations side, and I believe that there's going to be lots more spending required as a result of the fires and floods. So I don't think that this is good financial management, especially in relation to the climate emergency and that we have to have a much larger supplementary reserve in the future like we did two years ago where it was $65 million.

S...

Merci, Madame la Presidente. I move that the chair rise and report progress. Mahsi.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister again for that. It's helpful to get this information out there. It's not clear, though, how colleges and universities that still base their entry requirements on percentage grades will treat NWT students applying for admission when we start to switch to a proficiency scale. So it's also not clear how this proficiency scale grading will impact scholarships and it's not clear how parents are going to be informed about the new assessment scale either.

So can the Minister tell us what implementation measures ECE has developed to make sure...