Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know the Minister has mentioned the issue of statistically unviable information from the Northwest Territories, but we clearly know, if we want, we can provide these statistics. We do have the means. We have a stats bureau that can do all this stuff for us.
Can the Minister indicate what safeguards or policies has the Department of Finance formalized to mitigate these yearly variances that we’re seeing in tobacco tax collection in our territory? Thank you.
Thank you. I don’t think you’re ever going to get away from potential variation. For example, we believe, and we have some of the numbers to show us, that there has been a significant switch from rolled cigarettes to loose tobacco because it’s considerably cheaper. Our cigarettes are the second highest in the county. We do our utmost to check and keep track of contraband cigarettes, counterfeit cigarettes as well. So we’re always going to have some variation. Plus we’re spending a considerable amount of money as a government trying to get people to quit smoking and that shows some signs of success in certain age demographics. So we are always going to have that kind of variability, I believe. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to return to the Minister of Health’s answers here and I wanted to continue to ask questions. So let’s break down some of the departmental response in the Auditor General’s report. For the record, we all know in this building that the policies and procedures manual has been worked on for at least eight years. So, in other words, it makes it clear and relevant that everyone knows what’s going on, but I’ll save the questions of why didn’t they act sooner for the appropriate committee that will be reviewing the report line by line, and I’m speaking broadly, not to particular chapters.
So my question for the Minister is simply this: Noting the departmental response provided to the Auditor General on each of those chapters, when was this response provided to the Auditor General in writing and by whom and when would the Minister have been briefed on the types of responses provided to the Auditor General? The written responses. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I mean, that’s a pretty detailed question and I certainly don’t have that detail in front of me, but I’d be happy to get it for the Member. Thank you.
Thank you. We could only assume that the department would inform the Minister as to what they’re doing. So, that said, when would the Minister have been informed that the department is responding to the Auditor General and, as such, as they prepared the Minister’s statement that was read into the House February 25th, in other words, the pre-work in advance of the Minister’s statement before the Minister read it? I assume, as he said earlier, clearly, that he’s on top of his job and he’s a smart guy, he said that he would have understood the statement he was going to read. Thank you.
Thank you. My statement made on February 25th is actually incredibly consistent with the exact conversations that I’ve had in committee on other occasions. This is not new information; this is not some brand new thing that we’re doing. I believe the former Minister has actually made similar statements. As the Minister, I have the ability to select what statements I’m going to make and the child and family service file was an important one to me. It has been an important one since I was elected for my first term and it will continue to be important to me and I’ll continue to make statements. But once again, what I said on the 25th is not inconsistent with what I’ve said in committee or in front of the House when I was being questioned by Committee of the Whole.
So, as far as what the Member is maybe trying to suggest, frankly, once again, it’s an opinion and he’s entitled to his opinion. Thank you.
Thank you. Well, the Minister can keep repeating I have an opinion and that’s fine. I mean, the public sees it for what it is.
My next question for the Minister is: Who writes his Minister’s statements when they specifically target areas to talk about, which is child and family services matters? In other words, who would have written that? If he doesn’t want to name the name, name the section or the position. Thank you.
Thank you. When it comes to the Department of Health and Social Services, I decide what statements I want to make and I direct the department to draft a statement with the types of messaging that I would like to have in there, which is what I did in this case. Given that this was a Minister’s statement on child and family services, it would have been the child and family services unit and the director of that division who would have helped put together the language on that statement. But ultimately it’s my statement.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The probability is unreachable in any realm to put a bet on this, but let’s put it this way. With the likelihood of the statement as highlighted by the Minister that it’s written by the unit of the childhood family services area, they are, as we can only assume, the same unit that would have responded to the Auditor General of Canada in their written response represented by the department. Is it not probable that those are the same people writing the Minister’s statement and the response to the Auditor General? Thank you.
Thank you. Of course it’s a possibility, absolutely. We’ve got only a finite number of employees within the GNWT with the technical expertise in their different areas, but it’s absolutely irrelevant. The Member’s statement or the Minister’s statement was mine, I directed the department on what I wanted to say, I wanted to follow up on the types of things that are going on in the department and regardless of who writes it, it’s still my statement.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am in receipt of a return to written question asked by Mr. Hawkins on February 12, 2014, to the Honourable J. Michael Miltenberger, Minister of Finance, regarding human resource funding transfers and reallocations.
The information the Member is seeking is not available and cannot be provided. There is also the concern of dedicating scarce human and financial resources in order to comb through excessive amounts of data going back 10 fiscal years on what is, for all intents and purposes, a subjective exercise, trying to guess why managers of years past made certain staffing decisions. None of our systems, past or present, track the type of information the Member is requesting.
The Financial Administration Act gives the deputy minister for the respective department the ability to make interactivity transfer as a management tool. For interactivity transfers over $250,000, I table a report during every session in my role as Minister of Finance. The information contained in the reports may alleviate some of the Member’s concerns. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Madam Clerk. Item 10, replies to opening address. Item 11, petitions. Item 12, reports of standing and special committees. Item 13, reports of committees on the review of bills, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to report to the Assembly that the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning has completed its review of Bill 1, Reindeer Act; Bill 2, Archeological Sites Act; and Bill 3, Surface Rights Board Act.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled “Government of the Northwest Territories Response to Motion 6-17(5), Strengthening Municipal Enforcement of Liquor Laws.” Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Pursuant to Section 21. (1) of the Legislative Assembly Retiring Allowances Act and Section 11.1. of the Supplementary Retiring Allowance Act, I wish to table the Annual Report of the Legislative Assembly Pension Plans, March 31, 2013.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Friday, March 7, 2014, I will move the following motion: now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Sahtu, that this Legislative Assembly strongly recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories take the steps necessary to ensure widespread access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs); and further, that the government work with the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the NWT Association of Communities, the NWT fire marshal’s office and the NWT fire chiefs, and the RCMP to ensure access to defibrillators across the NWT by designating locations where AEDs must be made available, and require mandatory registration of all installed AEDs; and further, that the government develop protocols to ensure the monitoring and maintenance of all defibrillators in NWT communities; and further, that the government make funding available to NWT communities for training of staff in public buildings where defibrillators are placed; and furthermore, that the government provide a response to this motion within 120 days. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Mr. Miltenberger.
Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Friday, March 7, 2014, I will move that Bill 19, Appropriation Act (Operations Expenditures), 2014-2015, be read for the first time. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I have a motion.
WHEREAS our children are our future and the way we treat them will have impacts that will be felt for generations;
AND WHEREAS the literature on early childhood education demonstrates that the success of junior kindergarten depends upon the requirement that high quality programs be delivered by fully trained early childhood education workers;
AND WHEREAS Kerry McCuaig of the Atkinson Institute and junior kindergarten implementation consultant to the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has written that the requirement for high quality programming through fully trained early childhood education workers is non-negotiable;
AND WHEREAS research also shows that low quality programming can have a detrimental effect and actually delay the full and healthy development of our children;
AND WHEREAS the Department of Education, Culture and Employment is proposing implementation of junior kindergarten in small communities using elementary school teachers while encouraging them to take course work in early childhood education;
AND WHEREAS early childhood education workers are professionals that should be paid the same as wages as our teachers;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment be required to ensure that there is at least one fully trained early childhood education worker for every junior kindergarten group before the program is implemented;
AND FURTHER, that early childhood education workers be recognized as education professionals and paid wages accordingly;
AND FURTHER, that Aurora College immediately implement a training program that graduates fully qualified early childhood education workers who meet federal standards;
AND FURTHERMORE, that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a comprehensive response to this motion within 90 days.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues, for allowing this motion to come forward to have a debate on it.
This motion is a good news story for the small communities. Certainly, there are a wide range of opinions as to the program and how it’s going to be implemented and how it’s going to be rolled out in the coming years.
Our small communities, at least 10 of them, some of our communities do not have some type of programming for our junior kindergarten schools. As in the newspaper, it’s been quoted from Mr. Kochon, that’s welcome news to Colville Lake.
Twenty-nine communities next year will have this program. It will help them have the children get ready for kindergarten. It’s optional, and this program is setting up our students for the long term to do well in their educational career. Also, in the News/North report that we had a pilot program in Norman Wells and all indications have shown that the program is being successfully run and that the teacher was saying that the program is doing well. I support this program. I think it’s good news and I think we’re embarking on a long-term goal that families in these small communities now have an option to bring their children to school and have them in a structured environment that will get them prepared for their life-long career and their education.
I welcome debate on this motion. It’s a good program, and we need to stop sitting and start doing some things in our communities that will make a difference for the families and the people in our small communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. I’ll allow the seconder to the motion to speak. Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to second this motion. Residents in my communities are supportive of junior kindergarten, and the more and more I learn about how we’re going to implement and the need for early childhood education workers is a critical component of junior kindergarten. Right now, I don’t know how many early childhood education workers we have that we can integrate into the Junior Kindergarten Program, and that’s what this motion speaks about, about getting them involved, getting them involved early. There’s something to be said about teachers not being prepared for early childhood years, which is the four-year-olds in junior kindergarten, and I certainly see that need for early childhood education workers.
The motion, in the paragraph “now therefore I move,” indicates that we want early childhood education workers for every junior kindergarten group before the program is implemented. I have issues with that, because that motion would say to government stop everything unless there are early childhood workers. I know that the resources aren’t there. The Minister did speak in the House that there is a commitment to get early childhood education workers, and perhaps in his rebuttal he can address that, but for now, I believe that the motion is too strong and might delay implementation of the junior kindergarten. Our communities are looking forward to it.
With that, I’d like to move an amendment to the motion.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. To the amendment. Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honorable Member for Sahtu, that Motion 13-17(5) be amended by deleting the words “before the program is implemented” from the first paragraph of the resolution portion of the motion. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. We’re dealing with the amendment then we’re dealing with the motion. To the amendment. Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated, there is good support for junior kindergarten in the small communities. I’m very pleased that in the first year of the program it will be in the small communities, and we’re looking forward to that and looking forward with the inclusion and a plan to include and have more early childhood education workers to support the junior kindergarten program. However, like I said, the way the motion reads is government don’t do it unless. You have to do it before the program is implemented. When it reads that way it has implications for my communities. I know that they want it and they want it this coming fall as proposed by the government. That’s why, as a seconder, I have no problem amending it to delete “before the program is implemented.”
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. To the amendment. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can’t support the amendment. The whole intent of this motion is to make sure that the spaces, the programs for our junior kindergarten, four-year-old aged children, to make sure that it’s a quality program, and in order to make sure it’s a quality program we need to have early childhood educators who are running the program. We need to have people who are trained in early childhood education techniques. We need to have people who will ensure that the quality of the program is of a high quality. There’s not much point in running a Junior Kindergarten Program if we’re simply going to throw them in and treat them like school-aged children and put them into a classroom, sit them in desks. That’s not the intent of early childhood education. Without a trained early childhood educator, there’s not much point in having this motion. The whole intent is to provide quality staff for a quality program. Thank you.
