Kieron Testart

I can tell the Minister that a recommendation and a requirement are different. Those are the concerns that have been brought forward to me. Further to that, with the teacher to children ratio, it seems 1:25 is putting a lot of stress on these classrooms and the learning environment that these children are supposed to be benefitting from. Is the Minister open to re-evaluating that while this review takes place in the summer?

How much is it oversubscribed? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment what assessment, if any, has been done on the operations of the junior kindergarten program? Thank you.

Noticing the time, I will just be quick if you will allow me one more question. A lot of the procurement really depends on local knowledge, knowing who the vendors are, knowing what they offer, and knowing what their issues are. Is the department planning on adding additional front-line officers in the regions, especially the new Sahtu region, the Beaufort-Delta? Is that something that the department will consider? Thank you.

Thank you. I wasn't asking a policy question, but I appreciate the Minister's comments. I think there is more room to go. Are there client-facing service officers attached to procurement who can listen to concerns from the public directly? Thank you.

Thank you. That would be helpful. Can the Minister commit to doing that, and further include to do more of a qualitative analysis of whether or not this procurement outreach is working? It is fine to log participants and meetings, but those are all output-based metrics. If we don't know that 200 participants is statistically important to easing understanding of our procurement policies within the business community, it is just a number. Can the department commit to putting more qualitative analysis towards this exercise and reporting on it annually, either in business plans or some other...

If I could just get some information clarified: I heard both 60 participants and 200 participants for the last fiscal year. Which number is accurate? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister seems to be answering questions that aren't being asked. Nobody is asking industry not to pay these rates. We're talking about the rates, and whether or not they can be rebalanced to be fairer, given the government's rate. Florists and yarn and fabric stores pay $2.50, again, compared to 88 cents. Will the Minister sit down with industry and have a meaningful conversation with them so that he can get a better understanding of what their concerns are? Quite clearly, he doesn't get it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Film Commissioner and the office around the Film Commissioner works very hard to do exactly that, and I think the additional support will be great, but marketing and bringing productions here is only half the equation. The way to expand the industry is to actually build that local production capacity so you can have creators and film crews and technicians and engineers and all those people who make movies permanently based here. That's the way we can diversify the economy as well. Local economies in regions that have been successful in this have always built very...

I think we're well aware of the purpose of the commission. The Minister in response to the previous questions mentioned the GNWT rate which is about 93 cents. I just wonder if that applies across the board to all GNWT employees, all GNWT departments, regardless of the actual work being done? Is there only one rate for the Government of the Northwest Territories?