R.J. Simpson

Thank you. I don't think we're going to be doing that at this time. We've seen a reduction in our travel budgets as well as our, you know, contract services are tight, and it is difficult to you know, we have to make some difficult choices. So we have many avenues where we work with Indigenous governments and communities. And you know, we're going to continue to do that in the best way possible. But at this time, I can't commit to something like that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So this is something that is ongoing. There are timelines listed in the mandate, and there's funding flowing every single year to the tune of over $4 million to small communities to create jobs. So hundreds of jobs are created each year, and the communities just need to opt in and they can provide those funds to different organizations within the community, even private businesses, to create jobs. We are working on in the coming fiscal year, those are going to turn into multiyear agreements so that communities can plan so there's some sustainability with those jobs. It's...

Thank you. So the working group has been established. It has come up with some great ideas, doing some great work. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And we know there's issues with the education system along with some student outcomes. But that's just saying we know there's issues isn't enough. We need to target those issues. And in order to target those issues and develop solutions, we need data. And so there has been a shift in the last few years to collect more data and use that in different ways.

As part of our education is very decentralized and so it has made it difficult at times, but there is a lot of work happening. The graduation rate, it's fa more complicated number than I think a lot of people that I...

Thank you. The question of how we're going to afford all this it's a big one. And right now there from what I can tell, many aspects of the college are funded arbitrarily by the GNWT. There hasn't been a there's no formula by which we fund the college. And so one of the key steps that we are taking is developing a formula so we actually know how much things cost and we know how much we should be funding for programs, and we know how much we should be charging students for programs.

Another key aspect is increasing the student body, whether that is students from the territories, students...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So we've done a jurisdictional scan, a literature scan, and the model for a regionalbased support team was developed. Of course, like many things our efforts had gone elsewhere over the past couple of years in the education system. There was a drastic shift in how we do business. We're finally getting back to normal, and next week things are going to look a lot more normal in schools. But that really held us up, and so when you we I guess in the past couple years as well, there's been a greater push towards integrated service delivery approach, and we are looking at...

Thank you. And that is going to be an ongoing discussion. So the Member's right. People want the college to be everything to everyone. You know, I go around the territory and I talk to people, and they say we need more locally trained teachers. We need more locally trained RCMP officers. We need more locally trained pick your profession. Everything from furniture movers to doctors to anything you can think of people want those people trained in the Northwest Territories. And the fact is that at some point we have to rely on schools outside of the territory to do some of that training...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And no, the money that flows from the Government of Canada through the Government of the Northwest Territories through the childcare provider to the parent has to be flowed from the childcare provider who actually provided the services to the parent. So it can't be a different operator. If you've had your child in childcare for three months, from January, February, March with one provider, it has to be that provider who is flowing the funding to you. And we've had a lot of success. We have most people signed on to this, most providers. For some people, it's taking a bit...

Thank you. I just shared the information I have to share at this point. But as the income assistance review continues, I will happily keep Members informed and I've committed earlier to this exact same thing, actually. So yes. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So in our agreement with the federal government, we've agreed to use the funding from them to reduce the cost of childcare by on average 50 percent. And we understand that the cost of childcare varies depending on what people are charging. There is a number built into the federal agreement which so we can handle a 2.3 percent increase and not have to take from any other pots of money. The timing is not great right now because as the Member mentioned, the price of everything is going up. We're seeing, you know, inflation like we haven't seen before. So what we are...