Shauna Morgan

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And just to note that part of what I was trying to highlight in my Member's statement, and in my last question a few minutes ago, was that adult education is not just about job training but it also can include parents wanting to improve their literacy and learning in conjunction with their young and not-so-young children. So my question now is about family based literacy and learning.

My understanding is that the GNWT was exploring a model of early childhood learning that was centered around providing resources and involving all the family members; however, that seems to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And so on the related subject of family-based literacy programming, what is ECE doing to promote family- based literacy and learning instead of just school-based learning, or has this fallen off the radar with the introduction of junior kindergarten and the focus on childcare? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And so, I mean, the danger, of course, is that if we put all of our eggs into the basket, or many of them, most of them, of one company that's leasing us office space, we put ourselves at the mercy of cost increases, whether that's space costs or costs for various, you know, renovations and there's not much we can do about it if we're very dependent on one particular commercial landlord. So has the GNWT analyzed any risks associated with our dependence on landlords and us being at the mercy of costs that might increase as a result? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. So on Friday, the Minister committed to publicly releasing a report on the community learning centres, completed just last year, that was based on a set of community consultations that assessed how well the community learning centres were working and what could be done better. So can the Minister confirm whether in those consultations, did communities recommend that the community learning centres be shut down, or did they provide suggestions for more innovative and effective approaches to...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Following up on my colleague's questions about shortfalls in general purpose office space leasing, can the Minister share, or does she know, to what extent are GNWT office space leases concentrated with one commercial landlord?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On the topic of out of territory hospitals and physician services, does the Minister have any sense of how this number has been changing over time? Is this typical that for a number of years now, you know, just over $6 million we've needed to spend this much extra in out of territory physician services and hospital services, or, yeah, is there any trend or pattern that we can see? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, I mean, one particular concern that I've heard related to the way we budget for agency nurses is -- I think people on the front lines have a sense that there are strong attempts to limit the budget -- the regular budget for the NTHSSA so there's resistance to, for example, you know, adequate levels of staffing or putting new staffing positions in place because that would increase the budget that, you know, we're trying to keep under control and yet by not recognizing what is needed to keep the system sustainable, those costs are actually inevitable and they keep...

Thank you. Does the Minister know, does this reflect a sudden spike in, for example, children being apprehended or taken into care or something different that has happened, or these are just sort of run-of-the-mill incremental sort of forced growth costs? And if she is not aware, I can follow up later with the health and social services Minister. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the Dechinta Return on Investment Report prepared by the Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for that answer. So in my discussions with the NWT Literacy Council, I understand that there's huge demand for those family literacy programs and they could definitely be much expanded to meet that demand. So, in this era of fiscal sustainability, has the department examined not only the costs, you know, in grant and contribution funding but also the short and long-term benefits that could come from an even more concerted focus on family literacy programs? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.