Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last week we heard several Members’ concerns around the new Junior Kindergarten program which started in small community schools this fall. We’ve again heard from Mrs. Groenewegen today.

This year, in both the winter and spring sittings, Regular MLAs spoke out very strongly against beginning Junior Kindergarten without new funding. The Minister steadfastly refused to consider any suggestions for change, and he and the department forged ahead to implement the program at the start of this school year.

As with any new program or service rushed into implementation, problems...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess at the outset I should say that maybe I ought to declare a conflict of interest with this motion. However, I’m not going to.

I’d like to thank Mr. Bromley and Mrs. Groenewegen for bringing this motion to the floor. I think it’s a very necessary motion. The whereases in the motion capture pretty much everything that needs to be said, and there are a few things that bear repeating.

I’ve spoken twice to this issue as we’ve gone through the capital budget. I spoke once when we talked about housing; I spoke again when we talked through the Health and Social Services...

Anytime something new is implemented there are always growing pains at the beginning, and we are obviously experiencing growing pains, but what I hear the Minister saying is, yup, nothing’s wrong, but where anything is wrong we’re going to wait a year before we do something about it, and I think that’s very much the wrong attitude.

I’d like to know from the Minister, if he can tell me, does he have any intention or will there be any consideration for making changes to phases two and three of the rollout of Junior Kindergarten? Is that an option that he will consider and that we may possibly see...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I wasn’t going to ask questions on education today, but in listening to my colleagues ask the questions and the answers that haven’t been forthcoming, I feel that I need to ask some questions.

Mr. Bouchard just asked whether or not the government would pull organizations together, and that was my last question but I am going to go with it first. We need to get the organizations together that are currently providing programming for four-year-olds and ask them how we can accommodate Junior...

Thanks, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister. I know it’s a large document; I’ve looked at it. I would like to know from the Minister, if he’s talking about consultation and he’s talking about making sure that everybody likes the document – there was huge debate the first time this came out – so who is the Minister going to be consulting with? Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. He said that there were some attempts that were unsuccessful, but there was a very successful attempt and the Minister received the results of that successful attempt in January of 2012.

Last year, on February 26th, in 2013, in answer to my questions in the House, the Minister advised me that the report was about to be reviewed by the WSCC Board of Governors, and that then the Minister and the Minister responsible for WSCC in Nunavut were going to look at the report, and there would then be some decision, from what I gathered.

I’d like to ask the Minister, what were the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d also like to recognize the educators up behind me and the group of coroners who are here and welcome them to the House. I’d like to specifically mention Mr. Garth Eggenberger, a resident of Frame Lake, and if I’ve missed any other residents of Frame Lake, my apologies, and welcome.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that we report progress.

---Carried

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have one question and I want to ask it around the Stanton Hospital renovation project. We had a number of questions and answers yesterday, and at one point, I believe it was Minister Miltenberger who stated that there was a good business case to make this renovation a P3 project. I thought to myself, okay, yes there might be a good business case, but I have been advised and I have done a little searching myself and have found that hospitals are not necessarily the best projects for P3. There are some pretty damming reports out there about other jurisdictions that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to join in the chorus of thanking Mr. Brock for his service. I thoroughly enjoyed working with him. I found him to be the consummate professional, and he eventually made life easier during the last election when we had the issues that we had to deal with. So, thank you, Mr. Brock, for your service and best wishes on whatever your next endeavours are, and I would like to welcome Ms. Latour to the position. It’s great to have another female in a leadership position. We need lots more. Thank you.