Mr. Speaker, did the Minister consult with community leadership, including the Chamber of Commerce, town council, the First Nations in Fort Smith before they made this decision? Thank you.

HON. R.J. SIMPSON:

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you. Well thank you, and thank you for that commitment. And I think the I'm pleased Minister's perspective is that that's where the relationship's at because when we started the term, that's not where it was at. I think there was still a lot of confusion in the daycare space with respect to the communications from the department. So I hope that good communication continues moving forward.

Does the Minister believe the funding is adequate to support our current system of subsidized daycare? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So why can't thta program be based out the North Slave Correctional Centre? Thank you.

HON. R.J. SIMPSON:

Thank you. So is there any impediment to change those ratios from the department's perspective? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are expending the resources in this budget. We are committing to legislation in the future, but I think there are people worried about it now. When will they start seeing a difference in crime rates? When will they start feeling safer communities? Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So support to northern performers, I note that this funding, I'm assuming, is sunsetting. I think having a touring grant or something along those lines that let's northern artists reside in the north but it gives them support to travel elsewhere is an important aspect of arts funding that is often overlooked. Is that something that we can  and I note that the line here says that it's going to be redirected towards new programs that will better support the creative sector. So is that in line? Are we going to find a way to support touring artists? Thank...

Thank you. Yeah, if that comes up during this thing, just feel free to shout it out and I'll write it down. But I think that could potentially give us a sense of where we're at.

So another concern I've heard is from day home providers is that the ratios could be tweaked to allow for more spaces, especially in the transition between infants to, like, child where there's a different ratio at play. And if we created a different space or a different child to caregiver ratio, we could expand that a little bit and create less headaches for parents and improve the overall spaces without overburdening...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said in my Member's statement, violent crime in the Northwest Territories is on the rise as is drug crime. Drug seizures are up a hundred percent, I believe, and homicides are up more so than that. This use when I was growing up here, this was a very peaceful place. You know, we didn't see anything like this at the scale that it's happening now. Does the Premier agree that this is a crisis that needs to be resolved? Thank you.

So to be clear, there are  is there an implementation plan, or is this just new policy direction? Thank you.

Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And as a parent with young children in care, and I lost care and needed to find new arrangements, I can tell you it's not easy. And anyone who is still on those lists and does not have care, I have so much sympathy for. You know, it feels like smuggling narcotics, you know, like, flying under the radar to try to get access somewhere because there's so few spaces. So my concern is we can say 75 new spaces across you know, and that's great we're creating new spaces, but if the total need is 7500, then this is nothing, right, in the grand scheme of things...