Robert Hawkins

Well, there's a couple problems, Mr. Speaker. One is it's the grid that's the problem and the fact that it's setting a floor but also a ceiling in some cases. So it depends on where you're sitting, Mr. Speaker.

I'm asking the Minister because the money -- the funding is tied also to the grid, the funding each daycare gets, this negatively impacts those who have had different scales and are told to maintain them at the upper scales so the funding gap then starts to widen. Mr. Speaker, what can the Minister do to address the funding gap that is caused directly by this grid. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister keeps avoiding the question by saying how nice she is by saying I meet with this person and -- sure, that's great. But it's time to get the people in the room so you can hear their one major concern, the grid, and the grid it controls them, and it leads to the funding problem that they're facing.

Mr. Speaker, I ask again would the Minister call a meeting on behalf of -- or with all the daycares and their executive directors to sit down and get their one ask, help them with the wage grid? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to follow up on my statement which is my concerns about how daycares are paid -- or sorry, structurally paid through the grid formula created by the Department of ECE; and furthermore, Mr. Speaker, the challenge, of course, is that when a person with ten years of experience is paid less than a summer student, or even a grocery clerk, we have to start asking ourselves who are we serving in that particular thing.

Mr. Speaker, my question specifically to the Minister of education comes down to this: Given the immediacy of the urgency of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday I had the pleasure, if not honour certainly, to speak to the executive directors of the Centre for Northern Families daycare, the Montessori daycare, and the Yellowknife daycare as well, Mr. Speaker. Although I didn't get a chance to speak to the YWCA daycare, I still feel for their plight and their concerns will be in my statement as well.

Mr. Speaker, the ladies quite eloquently, and I'll say firmly and clearly, made it very clear their challenges of staying alive in the sense of a business are being impeded by the government-imposed wage grid. Now, the wage...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And for the record, I appreciate your guidance. Mr. Speaker, my question is when can Members expect this draft legislation to come forward for review? Again, I can't stress enough, nothing can really happen without it hence we're waiting and want to ensure that the process is moving forward.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm full of compliments today; here's one to Aurora College.

I went to their website recently, and I don't know if it's in response to my earlier questions several months ago or in the sense they were doing it anyway and just decided to do it better, I like what they've done with the timelines and the progress tracker on the work being done for the polytech.

Mr. Speaker, that being said -- not a criticism, just an observation. Mr. Speaker, on its website, it points out that they have a lot of things outstanding even though it shows it looks like they should...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll take the Minister on their offer of how we know and how we know.

So, Mr. Speaker, other jurisdictions place health care dollars so high on their list, they actually make health care cards also an identity card. So in other words, their picture's on their health care card. And places such as Ontario, BC, and Quebec do this to ensure the quality of the health care is going to the right people. They can guarantee the number with the person. So, Mr. Speaker, my specific question is this: Is this an initiative that the department of health can take on to, again, protect...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to speak to some of the challenges of consensus government today, somewhat of the fundamental lacks or concerns I'm seeing.

In my 14th year, I've personally never seen -- or I want to stress or felt -- it being so ineffective or paternalistic in many ways. And, again, I'm saying I've seen and I've felt. Mr. Speaker, when I watch two-thirds of Members want to support something and it seems to paralyze Members or the Assembly to the point it has to be watered down so far it becomes meaningless, it questions what value do Members at large present here.

Mr. Speaker, we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a number of constituents who are quite upset about this. As a matter of fact I even have a few of her constituents asking can we bring this back. If the Minister will table this information, I'd appreciate that. If she feels she can only send it to me, well, I'll take that too.

Mr. Speaker, I'm asking when -- often when we cut a program, we'll say we'll do an analysis after the fact, like extended health benefits, we heard that promise. Would the Minister be doing any type of 360 analysis after the fact to assess the impacts and choices made by the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We found out with great shock there last year that the northern bonus program was cut in the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. It was embedded into the deepest of the budget details and I, like many members, didn't realize it had been done until after the fact. My question for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment is simply this: What type of analysis had justified that choice to eliminate that program that is very near and dear to many of our returning students here to the Northwest Territories? Thank you.