Kate Reid

Okay, so the math is not mathing still for me because -- I'm happy that the Minister has explained that a little bit better; it helps me put things together, but I also understand that the pressures of operating such a large daycare, largest in the territory, mean that there are cost pressures that are not adequately being addressed under these parameters.

So, Mr. Speaker, is it possible for the Minister to amend the regulations to allow for different scale and scope of operators to exist in the territory noting that, of course, daycare looks different in Tsiigehtchic than it does in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last year, on February 23rd, 2024, the Minister of ECE said that ECE is committed to providing sustainable funding to daycares and I am committed to the relationship with childcare providers in finding out what it is they need and how we can support one another. I do believe that statement is true. But there's another voice in the conversation which is that of the territory's largest childcare operator.

Mr. Speaker, last week I received a letter from the constituent who is also a board member of that operator. With their consent, I shared it with the Minister. They...

That's all right. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On page 14, there is funding to support an increase in utility costs at 3.7, almost $3.8 million. I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to a substantiation on this noting which regions saw spikes. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have no issue with this; I just want to know more and understand more. I see it's fully offset by the Government of Canada. Can the Minister, please, explain what the high resolution airborne geophysical survey for critical minerals is. Thank you.

Thank you. So just for clarification, the folks who helped on the surge response for the outbreak, their salary is then costed to this item? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that. One option that has been floated to me by the board member of this operator is possibly asking families to have a membership fee, but that doesn't seem to be allowed by the regulations. Is that something that the Minister could contemplate? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's my understanding -- and I've highlighted this to the Minister already -- that this operator is concerned that the ELCC staff at ECE are -- you know, not in great contact with this operator. Can the Minister work to resolve this? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain what part of the agreement with the federal government for affordable childcare doesn't allow larger operators for making financially sound decisions like growing reserve fund or modest salary increases for workers? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And, yeah, I guess I just wanted to dig a little deeper on that. I would have expected this might have been the Sahtu with the pressures they've been facing but it's interesting to hear it's across more regions than just that.

So for edging into close to $4 million, much like previous questions in our committee this afternoon, I'm curious what kind of budgeting estimates have been perhaps not been adequate for our needs and anticipating maybe inflationary pressures to see such an increase? Thank you, Mr. Chair.