Caitlin Cleveland

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I can confirm it's much more affordable than outhouses in other parts of the territory but certainly infrastructure like this does carry a cost at the end of the day, so I just encourage us all to help one another take care of our infrastructure. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, while both programs are found within education, culture and employment, the purpose of the program is different. So with income support, it is intended to cover the basic needs of residents and therefore it is expected that residents won't have the funds in order to cover late fees and so it is covered under income assistance. As far as what a policy does or does not say, I don't have that information in front of me here, but my understanding is that there is no mechanism for that to happen through the student financial assistance stream....

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, I'm happy to say that the Member and I have explored some common ways to approach this. And, unfortunately, there is not a desire from our partners to see that this is piece-mealed, and concern as well with the fact that at the end of the day the MARS system needs to be programmed. And it can't be programmed under our current legislative regime; it needs to be programmed under our next legislative regime.

My next concern, Mr. Speaker, is that by piece-mealing these regulations and doing them in a step by step way that we actually slow down the entire process...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the answer to my first question I did say I'm always happy to go back to the department. And what I'm saying here, Mr. Speaker, is that it is expected that students have, from their summer student jobs, some dollars that they can afford to pay their tuition and then student financial assistance comes back and supports them. This is not a regular occurrence. The Member is absolutely right. And I am doing what I can to ensure that we are following up and making sure that processes are as efficient as possible. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, within the Intergovernmental Council, we have a protocol that we follow in how we work together and how we co-develop legislation. And so we are using that protocol to make sure that we're doing this legislation with the best integrity. And while we will be the last jurisdiction to have online map staking, we will be leaders as far as how we go about doing mineral claims in the future and our expectation on both industry and residents. And so while on one hand we're catching up, on the other hand we are leading the way.

In regards to the Member's...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, this month I had the opportunity to sit down with the NWT Early Childhood Association. We talked about some different ideas like this to increase flexibility and also make sure that we're working together to best serve residents of the Northwest Territories. I agreed with them that I would work with them on some of these ideas. Age range is one of those ideas, and the department continues to work on that, and I'm happy -- sorry, I'm speaking way too fast because I'm excited about this one. So yes, very happy to work with the Member and continue working...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, on my left I have Pamela Strand, deputy minister of industry, tourism and investment. And on my right, I have Nina Salvador who is the director of finance and administration for industry, tourism and investment. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, we -- sorry, Alberta calls those voluntary service fees, and we have gone back to our daycare and day home providers and said that they're able to do the same thing that Alberta is doing. I've also expressed this to the NWT Early Childhood Association as well. There are some rules around that in that the fees do need to be voluntary and that they can't hold back other kids within the system if their families are unable to meet the requirements or the asks of the voluntary fee. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've made a commitment to go back to the department and gather additional information for both the Member for Range Lake and the Member for Yellowknife Centre, and I'm also happy to share that information with the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what I'm saying is currently we have our school funding formula which turns around and funds education bodies. There is not a mechanism that these types of tests are currently supported through the department of education. One of the things that many education bodies do is look at their student body and find ways to support multiple students through the funding that they do have afforded to them. So any type of specialty type test that is done through the education body themselves would have to be done in discussion with the education body. I know that they...