R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, part of our mandate is to better utilize GNWT infrastructure for early childhood programs, so that’s a definite consideration. Right now, our capital standards don’t say anything about childcare spaces in schools, so we’re not mandated to build them, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re prohibited from building it, either, so it’s a discussion that we’re currently having. Thank you.

As part of the mandate commitment, as well, we're working on the Early Learning and Childcare 2030 Strategy, and so there is some work that has been going into that. I don't have the specifics of that, but I can find out and share that with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I hate to stop the fun, here, but the answer for that one is “no,” unfortunately. The contract, or the engineering and design contract, was awarded in June 2019 and that work has already commenced. At this point, it's too late to include childcare space in that plan. However, in the future, if we have room available in the school, that could be used for childcare space, but dedicated space is not in the plan right now and it's too late to add that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I want to focus on one of the successes that has come from the education renewal and innovation framework. The Northern Distance Learning program, otherwise known as NDL, is a way to offer higher-level academic courses to high school students in small communities, to help prepare them for post-secondary. By the upcoming 2020-2021 school year, this program will be available to students in up to 20 small communities across the territory.

The Northern Distance Learning program began at East Three School in Inuvik, under the leadership of the Beaufort-Delta Divisional...

Thank you. Could the Member please clarify which page he's on?

Thank you, and I believe the Member's questions were more focused on our mandate and increasing the availability and affordability. A lot of what we have done is focused on quality and shoring up the foundation of our childcare, but, to the point of increasing it, affordability and availability, you know there is still obviously much work to be done. Thank you.

Thank you. We can't parse out Income Assistance from the entire Income Security program. Income Assistance is about, I'd have to look at the exact number, here, $32 million, but the client service officers who distribute Income Assistance also deal with the Senior Home Heating Subsidy and a number of other programs. So, of the total of $52 million that is spent on those programs, $6.5 million is spent on administration. Thank you.

I am not quite sure what the Member means by "interactive," if that's the people working at the centres or if that is like a touch screen type thing. That would really be up to the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment who runs those. I would definitely encourage it. I know that at the north of 60, for the 60th parallel visitors' centre, when you enter the park, we have the big sign, which is strictly in English, but then, as soon as you enter the park area, the sign includes all the Indigenous languages.

That is distributed to heritage centres outside of Yellowknife. For example, Hay River received $60,000 a year; I believe Norman Wells receives $118,00; Fort Simpson, $55,000; Fort Smith, $198,000; and, actually, the Yellowknife Historical Society received $60,000 of that. Thank you.

The evaluation of the funding formula will take place in the coming years. We just put this mandate out, and committee knows there has been a lot of back and forth. The policy shops and all the departments have been going full-tilt and haven't necessarily had a chance to lay out our plan for the next four years. That's what we're working on. We know what we want to do. How exactly we're going to do it, that's still being worked out, so I don't have the details of this funding formula, but it's going to take engagement, obviously. I have my own concerns with this. As a Member for four years, I...