Julian Morse

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.

Thank you, Madam Chair -- or sorry, my apologies. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a force of habit there. No, I'm okay for now. Thank you.

Yes, Madam Chair. Thank you. Okay, so considering there's a position here, I may as well just ask the question.

I understand that there's a certain amount of reduction being done to this program in this budget, and I'm just looking for some clarification. It looks like there's $315,000 adjustment. You know, this is something that MLAs fought for hard during the last budget negotiations. So can the Minister just clarify to us, and for the public, what exactly is happening here. Is this like a -- are they bringing the cut back, or what -- how can they explain this? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, certainly I'm interested in hearing back from the Minister what they need to help make a difference, and I can advocate on this side with my colleagues to see if we can get that done.

Mr. Speaker, considering the problems that this new program is causing, and I'm hearing it from many of my constituents, and I'm sure it's happening across the country, can the Minister work with her colleagues in the provinces to advocate to the federal government for better flexibility for implementation of this program seeing the issues that we've been seeing, knowing that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd just like to continue on the line of questioning and dig a little deeper with the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Mr. Speaker, I had asked about the possibility of daycares charging fees in order to make up the gap. Is there perhaps a loophole that could be found in that daycares would not be charging fees for providing daycare but simply for charging -- for extras, things like providing meals, things like extracurricular activities that I know parents love having for their children. So is there some way that we can find a way around the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that clarification. So, Mr. Speaker, daycare operators are telling me that this new system is restrictive and preventing them from hiring staff and helping the department achieve their goal of creating new daycare spaces. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister commit to sit down with these operators and work with them and figure this out, find a solution that works for them, that works for the department, something that can help us move forward? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am encouraged to hear about that information from the Minister. Some of those things are things that I wasn't aware of.

Mr. Speaker, is the Minister concerned, considering the news that came out about the Inuit Nunangat University recently, that the NWT is falling behind our neighbours, that is a competitive environment that the NWT wants to stay on top of; is the Minister concerned about the progress that we are not yet making on moving this project forward? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your committee would like to report on its consideration of Bill 12, the Business Day Statute Law Amendment Act.

Bill 12 received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on October 30th, 2024 and was referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations for review. The standing committee completed its clause-by-clause review of the bill with the Minister of Justice on February 10th, 2025.

Mr. Speaker, the committee reports that Bill 12, the Business Day Statute Law Amendment Act, is ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole. Thank you, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My understanding of anything related to Canol is those would have been federal contaminated sites. I'm just curious how the GNWT ended up with them.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess, yeah, is the Minister able to provide us any detail, though, on like what exactly -- you know, it seems like the department has some information. They were able to give us kind of a high level idea Cameron Hills was $21.2 million, but can we know kind of what project are we talking about? How did the government end up with this liability? I'm just seeking to understand a bit better, you know, something that just appears as a line item in a budget and, you know, once the narrative starts to emerge, one wants to know more about it. Thank you.