Caroline Cochrane

Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, I have no doubt the Member will be back asking again and again and again. I respect him for doing that. We also have a childcare analysis, as well. I can provide that, as well. If I remember right, the cost figure annually would be $25 to $40 million per year for universal childcare, and that does not address every single community. The smaller communities, again, they might have one or two people working. They might not even need childcare. Universal childcare is very elite terminology when we have communities that don't even see it as their priority; something...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I agree it's important to work with Indigenous governments, the mining companies, and also the associations that support the industries. That was shown when we attended roundup, not only this year, previous years, as well. More and more Indigenous governments are taking part in it. They are coming down. They have got mineral resource strategies that are opening before them. They want the economy. We also need to make sure that we take care of our environment and jobs for people. When I was down at roundup, I said that before and I will keep saying it through my term: I...

I hope that all of our organizations and all of our departments and any of the corporations that we have are always looking to improve their services, looking to best practices. I do know that the Aurora College is moving into accreditation, which means that you will be looking at best practices all the time. My worry is that, when you are not accredited yet and you are moving into it, you still have areas that you need to work on.

I think that, yes, all of us should be working constantly towards making sure that our services are providing the best they can and that we are taking advantage of...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Minister has committed, absolutely, that she would listen to the businesspeople, and she is fine without the MLA there. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. At this point, I am not willing to take on any extra work doing a financial analysis of cost benefits for other economic areas. We do have some information. I do believe that there was a report done by the Housing Corporation that has an amount, I believe, to be able to get everyone out of core need. I think that's a document that we have already. I can ask that that be produced or be presented again to committee.

At this point, like I said, Madam Chair, we don't have a lot of money. We've admitted that. The Members all know that. Our fiscal capacity is, we're at the...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, we commit to looking at it. I am trying to think, but I don't think the Member has ever not given me the straight goods.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do agree that all organizations should be run on best practices. Thank you.

Thank you. I believe that the Member wanted the Minister of ITI to go into Hay River and meet with businesses and things, so I am going to say that she will do that. The other thing is that I do agree that they need to be fair. I agree that government employees are public servants; our job is to serve the public. However, you are absolutely right, it is about personalities, so we offer all kinds of cultural awareness, about customer service, you know, all kinds of training. The reality is that some people are kinder than other people, and, wisely, they do not give me the direction to be able...

Thank you, Madam Chair. First of all, I want to go back to the 25 percent. Twenty-five-cent dollar is absolutely right. I am not happy paying 25-cent dollars, either. We are just in the middle of finalizing a federal engagement strategy. Like the Minister stated, we will be going down there and asking for 100 percent dollars. Twenty-five-cent or 75-cent dollars are no longer good enough for where we are in our economy and our financial statement. We all will be pushing that.

The other thing is that you can't expect the Minister to be held accountable for projects that have already been...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to make sure I am understanding that the federal government has a procurement policy that gives a certain amount to Indigenous governments? If that is correct, then, when we look at our Business Incentive Policy or our manufacturers' policy, which we have committed to doing, then we can look at that within our review. Thank you, Madam Chair.