Thank you, Madam Speaker. I really had questions for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, but of course, after hearing the Minister of Education’s statement on Early Childhood Development Action Plan, I think he deserves the honour of my questions today.

My question, first off, is we shouldn’t be calling this an action plan. We should be more or less calling this the early childhood development vision.

I’d like to ask the Minister, how does he intend to pay for this vision? He’s pointed out that there is no costing, no assessment, whether it’s new money, whether it’s re-profiled...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. WHEREAS people of the Northwest Territories and Members of the 17th Legislative Assembly take great pride in the three young Olympic athletes from our midst: Jesse Cockney, Brendan Green, and Michael Gilday;

AND WHEREAS these athletes are building on the tradition of past NWT athletes who became fine Olympians and world champions;

AND WHEREAS our Olympic competitors inspire all our youth to success, to participation in the Arctic Winter Games and excellence in the endeavours they pursue;

AND WHEREAS the Town of Hay River has designated Friday, February 7, 2014, as...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I give notice that on Monday, February 10, 2014, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River North, that this Legislative Assembly officially proclaim its support for all three NWT Olympians, and wish them resounding good luck and success in their competitions at the Sochi Olympic Winter Games.

At the appropriate time I will be seeking unanimous consent to deal with this motion later today.

Sorry, Madam Speaker. I thought it was my third question, but the Speaker is always right. Even when the Speaker is wrong, the Speaker is still right.

Madam Speaker, the next question of course is: How much money is the Minister talking about? He said there is new money in the budget; he said there would be re-profiling, so let’s get down to the nitty-gritty and let’s find out what this is going to cost.

What is the program going to cost? How much new money is being put into this potential budget that may or may not be passed – and I’m not sure it has the support of all Members thus far – and how much money is being re-profiled and what are the impacts of re-profiling of those dollars? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to speak to the issue today, and I want to thank the Minister for acknowledging how important the role of education is to our young people, but some of the stuff I heard today did cause great concern. I know not one person who doesn’t believe in the first line of principles talked about, whereas the community is very concerned and certainly supports the physical health, emotional health, social and cognitive development of children. I think, as well, equally strong, that the Early Childhood Development Action Plan is a great concept, but...

Mr. Speaker, it is once again budget day in the NWT, or I’ve started to see it as it’s Cabinet day once again, a day once a year where all of Cabinet’s dreams are realized and Members’ requests are simply daunted off for yet another year.

When the Finance Minister continues to school us about discipline choices and that we must be thinking about a fiscally sustainable path, that’s become consensus talking for saying we have no money for Members’ initiatives, but don’t worry, your day will one day come.

When the government talks about fiscal restraint, I go to my dictionary and it reads they’re...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Are there any automatic protocols that brings to the attention of any type of management authority process that informs people that the wrong folks are viewing personal medical files without people having to wait down the road when they realize their personal information has been violated and the only reason the system knows is because they found out about it by accident? Thank you.

Thank you. I’ve heard about a complaint that was only observed after the complainant brought it to the attention of Health and Social Services. So I guess what my question would be is: What protocols are in place to ensure that this is being done and monitored without someone having to figure out that their personal files were violated? Thank you.

The Chinese will tell you this is the year of the horse. Well, I tell you once again, this is the year of Cabinet, again. I will encourage all my regular colleagues to vote against this budget until we see solid initiatives represented, pushed forward, moved forward by our MLAs, by the public’s wishes.

In closing, the Finance Minister says he wants to do things differently, so I encourage him to start listening to Members. That would be different.