R.J. Simpson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The City of Yellowknife, ECE, and Aurora College have been working together to, you know, identify a site for the future polytechnic university campus in Yellowknife.

If anyone is familiar with the current campus in Yellowknife, you would know that it is small. It's cramped. It is in a location that is inconvenient for many people. There's limited parking. And there's no possibility for growth there. And so there is a need for a new campus in Yellowknife. That has been, you know, discussed many times here. And there's also need for new infrastructure in the other campus...

Abstain.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As part of the facilities master planning, students were engaged, staff were engaged, Indigenous governments were engaged, the city was engaged, and now we are in the public portion that is being run by the city. It's a city process. There will be plenty of opportunity for public input in this zoning process. And the types of things that the Member is talking about right now traffic access. Those are exactly the types of things that this established public process is going to consider. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I understand the Member's frustration. Sometimes the rumour mill gets ahead of government and before there are decisions made, before all of the steps are followed, that information can be shared. Information gets leaked and so that was the situation. It came as a surprise to a number of people and so it wasn't by design that things were out there in the public before the MLAs were informed.

Really, the team looked at everywhere in Yellowknife. There were some requirements that, you know, were needed. So the space needed to be large enough for future expansion. There...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe there's 98 organizations in the Northwest Territories all together who provide childcare and charge fees. And I can say that 100 percent of the centrebased programs that offer infant and preschool programming opted in to the childcare fee reduction subsidy for 20212022, so prior to the beginning of this fiscal year or last the end of last fiscal year as well as this current fiscal year. All but one family day home opted in to that time period as well. And all but two organizations who offer after school programs opted in for the entirety of the program...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the work is going on to create those supports so that we can go into the communities and support the teachers. So I hate to say to the Member but we are making those plans. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We've been planning to make plans, and then we've been implementing those plans. I can say that much for sure.

It is clear that we need to support small schools and the students in those schools, and that's why prior to the OAG releasing their report, we've been taking steps to better support students in small schools.

One of the biggest things is junior kindergarten. You know, that's a few years old now, but that is the age where intervention has the greatest effect. And so we've implemented that and we spend millions of dollars each year on that.

Northern distance...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Now that is not a simple answer. So what I can say is that northern distance learning has produced some amazing results. You know, I hear great stories about it. I hear about students who, you know, in small communities who are taking these, you know, advanced level courses, academic courses, and making their way to university. And it's not obvious that they would have that opportunity in their community if not for northern distance learning. So it is a very valuable project, and I'm I don't want to say proud, but I'm happy with the investments that this government and...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I know the federal government is likely going to respond to this decision by the Supreme Court, but we have no influence over the Supreme Court and the laws, the common law that they create, or the federal Department of Justice and the Criminal Code of Canada, or how the courts operate or the defence counsel or the prosecution service. So it is difficult for us to do what the Member is asking.

That being said, the case that the Member is referencing was a case where someone ingested a significant amount of psilocybin I believe, magic mushrooms. So it wasn't someone...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So where there's a district education council or like the TCSA, the department provides a lump sum of funding, and there are essentially three pots of money. One pot of money has to be used for inclusive schooling, and so that's ensuring that there are supports to support students at different levels in the same classroom. One portion has to be used for Indigenous language and education. And the rest can be used for anything. We don't really have strings attached to it. The delivery of education is the responsibility of the local education body. And so ECE is quite...