The story continues. A stranger who was on the same flight as the Bennetts overheard Mr. Bennett's conversation with his wife, and, out of the blue, he said, "We have an extra bedroom at home. You can come spend the night with us, no problem. You won't be left alone." That helpful stranger was Yellowknife City Councillor Adrian Bell. My second question to the Minister is: what happens with people who want to stay at the airport overnight when it's closed and Councillor Bell isn't around?
I believe it is very rare. It's unfortunate this incident happened, in this particular case, but I think it's very rare that there are people around the airport that late at night. Typically, I believe the department would probably be telling people if it was closing down, and then they would be making arrangements to get to a hotel or make other arrangements. It's an inopportune situation, but at present the airport is closed between 2:00 and 3:30 in the morning.
That is not the only person who I have heard has run into this problem. If you are looking at the middle of December, I mean, what do you do? It's freezing outside; for 90 minutes, that will kill you. So I just want to ask the Minister: 90 minutes is not a long time. There is probably security; there is probably somebody at the airport. I'd like to ask the Minister: can he commit to keeping the airport open for that extra 90 minutes so it's open 24 hours a day to avoid these kind of problems in the future?
I thank the Member for this question because as the proposed Revolving Fund moving forward this would allow us the opportunity under that to have this type of decision come forward and have the airport open 24 hours.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I know when there's something on the table; like I said earlier, the government doesn't make a decision until that thing happens. So I'll rephrase the question: will the Minister commit to keeping the airport open 24 hours a day if Bill 7 passes? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member knows, moving forward we are going to have an advisory board who would be advising us, along with other stakeholders, and this information will be coming forward and this is something that we can look at doing around that after Bill 7 is approved.
Masi. Oral questions. Item 9, written questions. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to go back to item 6 on Orders of the Day. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Member is seeking unanimous consent to return to item number 6 on orders of the day.
---Unanimous consent granted
Member for Range Lake
Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize women in the House from Native Women's Annual General Meeting. These women are role models within their communities and they're here representing Indigenous women of the Northwest Territories. We have Liza Pieper, the president, she's from Detah/Yellowknife area; Annie Goose from Ulukhaktok is the vice-president; Mabel Brown from Inuvik is the Mackenzie Regional Director; Shirley Kisoun the Mackenzie delegate from Inuvik; Jane Weyallon from Behchoko is the Tlicho Regional Director; Jaylene Delorme is the territorial youth representative from Hay River; Natalie Makletzoff is the Native Women's Association training centre instructor from Yellowknife; Marie Speakman is the Native Women's victim service worker; Michele Lavoie is the Native Women's ASETS worker. I don't see Emma Amundson. Oh, she is here. Dehcho regional director from Fort Simpson, and Angela McKay from Fort Resolution, she is also here and she is the South Slave regional director. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to welcome all the representatives from the Native Women's Association here today, particularly Ms. Shirley Kisoun as well as Ms. Mabel Brown, and a former resident of Inuvik as well, Michele Lavoie. Thank you and welcome and I'm glad you can enjoy the proceedings. Mahsi cho.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to also recognize Emma Amundson from Fort Simpson and welcome her. There's not too many times you get to have family in here; I'd like to welcome Shirley Kisoun here as well. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to welcome Jaylene Delorme back to the Assembly; she was here a couple of weeks ago with Daughters of the Vote, so it's always good to have people from Hay River active in the community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize Marie Speakman, a constituent of Yellowknife South. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Nunakput.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also too would like to welcome all the women from the Native Women's Association, in particular Ms. Annie Goose from Ulukhaktok, who is a constituent, and also Shirley Kisoun from Inuvik. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Welcome.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to recognize Shirley Kisoun, a good friend of the family. Welcome to the House. Thank you.
Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. I, too, would like to welcome you to the Assembly. It's always nice to have an audience as part of the proceedings. Masi.
Mr. Speaker, I have a return to written question 20-18(2) asked by the Member for Yellowknife Centre to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment on February 14, 2017, regarding funding for junior kindergarten. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Under the Education Act, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment is obligated to fund inclusive schooling at 15 per cent of the overall contributions provided to education authorities. Based on projected enrolments, including new junior kindergarten students, and accounting or planned contributions and additional funding for junior kindergarten, we are currently funding inclusive schooling at 17.1 per cent. This amounts to $3.8 million beyond the current funding requirement for the 2017-2018 school year.
Children entering junior kindergarten will have access to existing supports and resources within the school. The specific needs of junior kindergarten students will be met through the school-based support teams already in place. Junior kindergarten students are also funded at a student/teacher ratio of 12:1, taking into account the increased supports that this student population may need.
In order to accommodate concerns associated with inclusive schooling, the department has put on hold the full implementation of the Inclusive Schooling Directive, delaying the hiring of the team of specialists. What this means for education authorities is that the $1.15 million originally planned to be used for this team will remain within the school system and will be allocated to funding for learning support assistants.
School transportation is part of the current school funding formula and is calculated based on the number of students, average school size, a community distance factor, and the living cost differential. The current formula for student transportation is as follows:
Community enrolment x Northern Cost Index x Weighting Average School Enrolments x $62 x Community Distance Factor
Based on information received from the Yellowknife Bussing Company, it is expected that, because younger students will likely mean more expensive support, contract costs will increase. Students that are from communities such as Detah, Behchoko, Enterprise, and Hay River Reserve are also likely to incur a greater additional cost due to the distance of their commute. As a result, the department is working with the education authorities to ascertain the incremental costs of providing transportation for junior kindergarten students and will be undertaking a review of the busing component of the School Funding Formula.
The department recognizes the importance of investing in quality early childhood programming and currently provides an Early Childhood Program, or ECP, operating subsidy for all licensed early childhood programs.
Effective October 1, 2016, the department introduced a revised ECP funding model that includes increases to the daily subsidy rates. We have also been working with childcare providers to help them adapt to the territory-wide implementation of junior kindergarten.
Recent changes to the ECP funding model include:
Revised ECP operating subsidy model with increased rates;
Consolidation of licensing and funding applications into a single application form and the possibility of multi-year funding agreements; and
Increased funding for operators in government buildings.
The department will also allow education authorities to decide whether they will offer half- or full-day programs so as to not interfere with existing early childhood programs that may exist.
The current JK-12 education system provides a wide range of supports that extend well beyond the classroom teacher. For example, capital investments, inclusive schooling resources, Aboriginal language specialists, education assistants and program support teachers are all important features of the education system that are funded and administered in different ways. Furthermore, all of these supports are shared between students and classrooms. For these reasons, it is not possible to create a subsidy program that would provide the full scope of JK-12 support on a per child basis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to present a petition dealing with the matter of eliminating bi-annual time changes. Mr. Speaker, the petition contains 533 electronic signatures of Northwest Territories residents and, Mr. Speaker, the petition requests that Daylight Savings Time be adopted on a permanent basis to eliminate the need to turn clocks back in the fall. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 1, 2017-2018." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Tabling of documents. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Caring for Our People: Strategic Plan for the NWT Health and Social Services System 2017 to 2020." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Tabling of documents. Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 627-18(2): Taltson River Dam." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Thursday, March 9, 2017, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife North, that this Assembly refer Petition 6-18(2): Elimination of Time Change in the Northwest Territories to the Standing Committee on Social Development for a comprehensive review and that the standing committee report back to the Assembly at their earliest opportunity. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River South, that Bill 20, Supplementary Appropriation Act (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 3, 2016-2017 be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. The motion is in order. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called. The motion is carried.
---Carried
Bill 20 has had its first reading. First reading of bills. Minister of Finance.
