R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So as most people are aware, we recently signed a deal with the Government of Canada for around $50 million, and that is to help us transition to a system of universal childcare. There are a number of aspects to this. The first aspect that is rolling out across Canada is to reduce fees for parents by 50 percent on average.

The Member raises some good points. There are other issues. Staffing has always been an issue. And in terms of a living wage, we don't have I don't have the stats for living wages in every community. I know that in some of the regional centres, it's...

For.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Bill 38, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Act, 2021, be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Bill 37, An Act to Amend the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act be read for the third time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In favour.

In favour.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since March, probably March 5th, there's been a number of sessions, a number of meetings between day home providers and staff, and those meetings are going to continue. The difficulty is that, you know, we have a lot of childcare centres and those centres are nonprofits, and they are there to for the purpose of providing childcare. They're not money making ventures. And so they already have the idea that they want to do what they can to make childcare accessible.

And so the family day homes, on the other hand, are they're businesses. And so it's perhaps they have...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And for the past couple years, we've had an early childhood infrastructure fund. It's a million dollars a year. There's been great uptake on that. But the fact is that we need third parties to want to provide childcare. In many communities, there it's already happening Indigenous governments are doing it, nonprofits are doing it. But some of the difficulties in communities without childcare is the lack of a provider, and in other communities there's just no children under the age of five. There's no need for childcare. And yet other communities, they would prefer that...

For.

In favour.