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.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This phrase is awkward, but it is the kernel of the motion, I believe. I think what Mr. Menicoche is saying, and I agree, is we don’t want the whole program stopped if some community, JK group, doesn’t have an ECE worker. It’s just that that particular JK group should not go ahead until there is an early childhood education worker. On that basis, Mr. Chair, I would like to propose an amendment to the amendment. Mahsi.
An amendment to the amendment. The Clerk is advising we take a five-minute break.
---SHORT RECESS
Thank you, colleagues. Mr. Bromley, to your amendment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Frame Lake, that the amendment to Motion 13-17(5) be amended by adding the following after the phrase “first paragraph after the resolution portion of the motion”: and replacing them with the words “before that group begins in that community”. I think we need one more minute, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Madam Clerk, would you see Mr. Bromley.
---SHORT RECESS
Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River North, that Motion 13-17(5) be amended by deleting the sixth paragraph of the motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. To the amendment, Mr. Menicoche. Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe in deleting this, we have not failed to speak of the wages because further down in the motion it says that early childhood education workers be recognized as education professionals and paid wages accordingly. I think that covers the issue of the pay. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. To the amendment.
Question.
Question has been called.
---Carried
The motion is carried as amended. Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Now to the motion.
---Laughter
To the motion as amended.
Question.
Question has been called.
---Carried
