Julian Morse

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, with the last minute that I've got here, maybe perhaps what I'll do is, you know, I thought the Member for Yellowknife North made an excellent case for Dechinta in her Member's statement the other day, and certainly I met with this organization, and what the -- what the president of that organization highlighted for me is just that any money that went to Dechinta, particularly in additional money, the things that they could do with dedicated funding would be to employ elders, employ educators, but in particular people -- knowledge holders, Indigenous knowledge...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The next question I have is I note that the budget item hasn't changed year over year. One of the cases made by the department when this change was being proposed is that it would help potentially save money. I'm just wondering, the budget hasn't reduced, can the department comment on whether the goals of the changes for the program have actually been achieved; has it changed anything substantively, or are we kind of ending up right back where we started with a different program that's covering less people but costing us the same? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do apologize if I'm repeating any questions here. I was trying to follow along with all the other Members.

But the community clinics and health centres, I notice there's a pretty significant increase there. Can the Minister just give a quick summary of what's happening there.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a lot of lakes around here; it's easy to mix them up.

The other question that I have Mr. Speaker -- or sorry, Mr. Chair, is other post-secondary institutions. So there's funding for College Nordique and the Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning. I note that there is no funding in that line item this year. Does this mean that we are not making any contributions to Dechinta or College Nordique, or is there more to that story? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So 366 new clients. So those are 366 new individuals. Does that represent a growth of 366 clients over what was there before? So how many were registered prior to the change, I guess. Because you're saying there's 794 registered now, how many were registered before? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And so could the Minister just describe for us, and for the public, what's being done with midwifery; what is the plan going forward so the public can have some reassurance that the department's still working on developing this program. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It's actually just a question of clarification. I have some questions about the midwifery program. I'm just wondering where we can actually find that on these pages because it's not specifically listed.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that answer. That does, I think, provide somewhat of a path. I mean, fundraising is something that they could be doing in order to do these extra programs, so that's something I can bring back to them as an option and I hope the Minister -- but to get to the next question, Mr. Speaker, if charging fees isn't allowed, I'm looking at what can we do to change this gap -- to close this gap as MLAs. I know that my colleagues probably join me in wanting to do what we can for the daycares, do what we can to help them expand, help them operate...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'm glad the Minister highlighted that because that dovetails well with the question I was about to ask.

Mr. Speaker, operators are telling us that they can't charge fees for additional services like providing healthy meals, extracurricular programming, or even making up the gap between what the government is willing to give and what daycare operators need to be paying in order to keep staff. So, again, is that a rule being imposed on us by the feds or the GNWT, and can we change these things that are creating problems for operators?

Mr. Speaker, I just want to remind...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this question is -- these questions are for the Minister of ECE.

Mr. Speaker, I've been speaking with daycare operators. The wage certification grid that the government has brought out is causing difficulties for operators in a time when we're trying to expand daycare spaces. Mr. Speaker, is this new grid something that's been imposed on us by the federal government, or is it our own program? Thank you.