Robert Hawkins

Mr. Chair, I would add the following at the end of the last word and it states, “where and when practicable.”

WHEREAS the Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) plans to roll out a new Junior Kindergarten Program in 22 communities in the fall of 2014;

AND WHEREAS in some of these communities there are well-established Aboriginal Head Start programs with only four students per teacher, delivered at no cost to NWT residents or the Government of the NWT;

AND WHEREAS Aboriginal Head Start programs will be impacted by the new Junior Kindergarten Program;

AND WHEREAS funding from ECE is being reduced in some education districts and allocated to others in order to implement junior kindergarten;

AN...

Mr. Chairman, I move that the current limit of $100 remain for each anonymous donation, but that each candidate be limited to a total of $1,500 in their anonymous contributions to his or her campaign. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It shouldn’t be from the Member, I’m asking a question to the Minister. What can he do? What’s the point of being Minister of a whole department? I’m asking you a question. What can you do as Minister? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move that Section 152 to 162 of the Elections and Plebiscites Act be repealed as well as all other references to “an advanced poll”; and further, that the Chief Electoral Officer provide the Assembly with detailed recommendations to establish a new special voting opportunity for communities without a resident returning officer, similar to voting in the office of the returning officer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to ask questions to the Minister of Justice regarding residential and tenancy issues. I’m not going to get into the nuts and bolts of the particular issue, but I think the public is well aware of a recent circumstance that I had to help a family here in Yellowknife Centre, but it spoke broadly to types of problems in this area at large to constituents that belong to all of us in some manner or form. Since that incident, actually, I’ve had a lot of calls throughout the city of Yellowknife about problems that they’ve had.

I think all this issue really boils down...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have to admit, I don’t recall the exact detailed discussion when we had it in committee, but one of the problems we had was recognizing advertisement in general. For example, it’s easy to say don’t advertise in print on that day, and that makes sense to people, or for example, don’t advertise on television, which in the Northwest Territories tends to be fortunate in that area. It’s too expensive and these are small campaigns so you don’t tend to see a lot of it, and that’s what I mean by fortunate.

On the radio now, we’re getting into means and mediums that people can...

We’ve heard the Minister on the record say we’ll take care of them. We’ve had staff tell these day home operators if they were better budgeters, the changes wouldn’t be noticeable. Mr. Speaker, all we hear is that JK is optional. That’s what I’m asking.

What is the evidence that people will choose to pay $1,000 a month per child to go to the day home versus go to a free program? That’s what we want to know. Where’s this evidence in this ludicrous statement that I hear over and over again that it will be up to the parents, it’s optional? They will choose to pay rather than take the free program...

Is it conceivable and how does the Chief Electoral Officer see or manage this particular issue? Is it conceivable, for example, that a 10-bed shelter has 10 different people each day and each person during the voting period could vote each time? So 10 new votes times 28 days type of thing? The example of expanding it, if the Chief Electoral Officer needs a better description, I think that’s probably not per se. I’ll give him a shot at that question.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like the Minister of Education today to stand up and explain the changes that are coming with junior kindergarten. He needs to enlighten the community and certainly the territory that if you have a day home, they’ve been telling everyone it will be fine.

What evidence can he convey that it will be fine? Just a few days ago, I brought up in this House the departmental staff keep telling these day home owners, whether they are licenced or unlicensed or part of the Montessori program, you’re going to lose money and it’s time to budget better. I would like to hear...