Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I opened the News/North today and this may not be the first time this ad has run, Mr. Speaker, but I was struck by this full page ad which says -- if I can just read it, it’s very brief -- “Empty Stomachs Make Empty Brains. Your kids cannot concentrate with growling stomachs. Everyone needs a healthy breakfast to start the day. Sponsored by the Northwest Territories Department of Education, Culture and Employment.”
Mr. Speaker, I find this ad offensive and I would suggest that if it’s run for very many times, it’s very expensive. Mr. Speaker, this government has way too much money to spend if they can take out full pages in the local newspaper for an ad like that.
Mr. Speaker, we know that we need many, many things in our education system and one of them is children who are healthy and fed and ready to learn, But, Mr. Speaker, we have Mr. Jacobson standing up here talking about the fact that we have no funding for a teacher in Sachs Harbour; we have other Members standing up and talking about the many, many needs in our community. I find it amazing and, as I said, this government has way too much money if they have money to spend on something like this.
This message means nothing to anyone who will read it. As a matter of fact, saying that if your stomach is empty, so is your brain, is an offense to somebody who doesn’t have enough to eat, as far as I’m concerned. I think people who are hungry can still think.
Mr. Speaker, if there are parents who don’t know that their children should not go to school hungry, this is a rather cold way of sending a message to them. Maybe ECE would be better to talk to their counterparts and figure out a way to sponsor a milk subsidy program so that children in communities where milk is an expensive commodity could have their diets supplemented with something that is nutritious. I find this ad, as I said, Mr. Speaker, not a very good use and expenditure of government money. Later today, I would like to ask the Minister of ECE who came up with this campaign, who designed this campaign, who created that wording, how much did this cost the government. This kind of thing has got to stop. We have more pressing issues. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
