Julie Green

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is good news that people do want to take up this training. I wonder, without opening additional daycares, what all these additional trained early childhood development staff workers will be doing. What is the outlook for employment in this field? Thank you.

Yes. Thank you very much. That is very disappointing, obviously. The previous Minister of this department decided to allocate the bulk of the bilateral funding from the federal government to training staff and giving grants to staff to supplement their wages. Can the Minster tell us what uptake there has been on the increased number of scholarships and grants available to people training as early childhood development staff? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I appreciate the Minister's point on that. On October 31st, she stated that the department was then working with Norman Wells and Enterprise. Could she tell us what happened with those negotiations or with those meetings? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My thanks to the Minister and her staff for appearing today to answer some questions about her ministerial statement on early childhood programs and services. There are a couple of different issues that I want to address in here. I am going to start with licensed childcare. When we started in this Assembly, there were 10 communities that didn't have any licensed childcare programs. It is my understanding that, today, we have 11 communities without childcare programs. Can the Minister confirm that 11 communities is the right number? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Premier for that answer. At what point should we expect to hear a recommendation or in fact a decision from the Executive Council?

Thank you to the Premier for that answer. So, leading on from the 89 suggestions, could the Minister tell us what process is in place to make a selection of those names and who is part of that selection process?

I appreciate the Minister being open to that suggestion. One of the things that participants talked about was the need to address issues such as lost paperwork and late payments that come about as a result of that. Can the Minister tell us whether any progress has been made in this area?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. The Minister received valuable feedback at her forum on how to improve the Income Assistance Program. There were dozens of suggestions, and clearly there is not time to work on them all. My question is: what are the Minister's priorities to improve the Income Assistance Program in the short term? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister's genuine efforts to reform this troubled system. I am wondering, in the area of the Income Assistance Steering Committee, this may be the one the Minister referenced earlier. People at the forum in December really wanted to see this committee be created to address ongoing issues. Is this the committee she referred to earlier in her answer?

Thank you to the Minister for that response. I am glad to hear that the paperwork is going to be more plain-language. Is there any thought to actually testing this new paperwork with a client group to ensure that it is meeting the goals that they are hoping?