R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Unfortunately, I can't give a solid answer. We we would have liked I would have liked to get this done this term. I've said that many times. I can't I can't lie about that. But the fact is that everyone was preoccupied for a couple years and not just the government but Indigenous governments. And when we out to just discuss this topic, it was clear that everyone wanted to be involved. There had to be a significant level of involvement from from teachers, from Indigenous governments, from, you know, different organizations. And so because of that and because of the...

Thank you. And ECE does support communities, including community governments, so that includes Indigenous governments, in those communities to develop their community labour market development plans. And those contain a lot of information that I know we talked a lot today about why we need information to make decisions. And that also allows us to provide funding based on those decisions.

I will say we're also working with the Housing Corporation to better utilize the trades persons that are employed by the Housing Corporation and the LHOs. This is something that the Minister and I had been...

Thank you. So there has been some work that has been done already. Each department is pulling together its own information and then the working group will look at that and amalgamate it and the departments have been putting that information together. If they're not already sharing that with each other and starting that work, it will be happening quite soon. There have been some changes that have been made through based on the discussions, so. One of the changes is the communities who have the community labour market development plans will be eligible for multiyear funding through the Small...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to present to the House Bill 48, Arbitration Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I've said that many times that we're not going to build a new headquarters, we have one, so why bother. However, I will say that we obviously need infrastructure in all the communities. In Yellowknife, you wouldn't know there was a university there was a college here. You know, it's you kind of have to know where it is to know that it even exists. And we have a real housing there's a real housing shortage here as well, and so we need to ensure that there's adequate facilities here. Of course, as the Member points out, Breynat Hall is one of our priorities for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have five positions. Three are staffed. I have a text telling me which positions are not staffed but I can't scroll to it at this moment. I'm sorry, Mr. Speaker, but I can get the Member that information. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And so what the facilities plan is you know, it's essentially a capital plan but it's where it's longterm. You need to look at all of the campuses as well as the community learning centres, and we want to make sure that we're starting from a place we want to make sure we have a plan from the getgo and that ensures we want to ensure everything is integrated, everything works together. And I actually just had my first meeting with the contractors who are have been going out and speaking with the communities and Indigenous governments and the college to do this work...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Generally when we release strategies/action plans, they're quite high level, relatively big, but I said, no, we're going to get down into the weeds with this one and so we have timelines; we have dollar amounts; we have very discrete actions. And what comes with that is the fact that things don't always work out the way you would like. Sometimes you don't have the money. Sometimes other things get in the way. And sometimes positive things happen that can even set you back. So in this instance, with this particular item, the development of a literacy and numeracy...

Thank you. And I think the Member is greatly oversimplifying what a university is. It's more than just a collection of different research groups and educational facilities. There are quality standards that need to be met, minimums of research, and all of these different types of things. But I get what the Member is saying. There is a you know, we are seeing a robust postsecondary environment develop in the Northwest Territories, and the GNWT is supporting that not only through the transformation of the college but with the Postsecondary Education Act. And there is strong communication...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And so we are looking to reduce the cost of childcare by 50 percent on average. And so what that average is, is the average of all childcare providers who charge for childcare. So we do not factor in all of the hundreds of childcare spaces that are available free of cost, many provided by Indigenous governments in smaller communities. The average that we're looking to reduce by 50 percent is based only on childcare providers that actually charge money. Thank you.