Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Range Lake, that Bill 68, An Act to Amend the Child Day Care Act, be read for the third time. And, Mr. Speaker, I request a recorded vote.
Thank you, Minister. The motion is in order. To the motion. Minister responsible for ECE.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we just considered this bill yesterday in Committee of the Whole. Some people may recall that there were motions moved at that point. It was a dead heat, and there was no changes to the bill as we had a couple of ties.
Since that time, I've spoken to the department, I've spoken to the chair of the Standing Committee on Social Development, and I considered how could we incorporate some of those changes that the Members would like to see, some of the concerns that the Members have been expressing, into the bill so we can find a clause that we can all agree on.
So the clause in question related to the disclosure of the identity of a complainant, someone who makes a complaint against a child care operator. And the reason that is included in the bill is because we want to create a robust system where parents feel empowered to bring forward their concerns about the services that their children are receiving from their child care operators. What we don't want to do, though, is create a situation where we're criminalizing people when we obviously don't need to. And so what was proposed originally in the bill probably too far in one direction. Committee came back with a proposal to adjust that language. I came back with a counterproposal. And neither of those were, I guess, acceptable to a large enough portion of this Assembly and so I think we've landed on some language that hopefully we can get some more support for.
So with that, Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Member for Range Lake, that clause 13 of Bill 68 to be amended by deleting proposed subclause 19.2(2) and substituting the following:
2. An operator shall not
retaliate against a complainant under section 19.1 or,
disclose the identity of a complainant under section 19.1.
3. Notwithstanding paragraph 2(b), an operator may disclose the identity of a complainant
to a lawyer retained by the operator to provide legal services in respect of a complaint
to a trusted advisor, or,
as authorized by the director.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. To the amendment.
Question.
Question has been called. Minister.
And so I just wanted to explain this a little bit. So what you're seeing here is in addition to the amendment that I moved yesterday, and that is that an operator may disclose the identity of a complainant, you know, to a lawyer, or as authorized by the director or to a trusted advisor. We understand that there are child care operators who may be new in the business. And they might want to seek advice from someone who has some more experience, or there's a million other scenarios. And we want to ensure that the operators feel like they are supported, and they can reach out and get that support. At the same time, we want to protect parents; we want to protect their identities if it might be detrimental.
And I will say that what this clause does, or what it attempts to do, is address a very, very small percentage of issues that ever arise. Most complaints, the vast majority, are dealt with through conversations with child care operators and they don't proceed to a point where there would be any sort of repercussions, any suspensions or anything like that. So this is not an indictment on the whole sector. This is to address some very small issue but an important issue to those who it affects. And so I hope that Members think that this addresses their concerns, and I hope that I can get their support in this motion. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. The motion is order. To the amendment.
Question.
Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Any abstentions? The motion is carried.
Carried
To the motion as amended.
Question.
