Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the problem has been identified publicly as more applications than there were previously that overwhelmed existing resources. Is that the case? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, who is responsible for the delays that incurred the late fees - was it the students working their summer student jobs and being late in applying, or was it the department that didn't have capacity to meet the demand that was late getting out? Can the Minister just clarify who is responsible for incurring the late payments, because I'm confused. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I asked questions about late payments for SFA students. The Minister said that she will not pay them back even though we have a process for paying back income support late fees incurred on income support payments. Will the Minister work with her department to find what barriers exist to paying off these late fees so we can give our students a break? Thank you very much.

I am going to take that as a yes, Mr. Speaker. So thank you for that to the Minister, and I hope she communicates that to day homes soon because they're still unaware of that change.

Mr. Speaker, the work of day home providers is different from daycare centre providers. Their wage grid does not take into account longevity of service provided in the North, education, or Indigenous knowledge. Will the Minister update the wage subsidy for day home providers so it reaches parity with daycare centre providers so we're not playing on two different playing fields.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When Prime Minister Trudeau introduced $10 a day daycare, early learning and childcare became far more affordable for Canadians and for Northerners. This was a game changer for my family and many others in the NWT. For working parents with young children like me and my wife, affordable daycare isn't a luxury; it's a necessity. Now ECE's role in daycare services has significantly expanded and with it, the Minister's responsibility to ensure her department effectively manages partnerships with both day homes and childcare centres, ensuring subsidies and regulations are...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I see that the engagement notice has gone out as of today, this afternoon, and engagement one, which will take place during October, is around mineral resources administration, drill cores, and removal of minerals. So I'm assuming that's the part of the regulation or the policy intention that would govern online map staking because the other two are benefit agreements and socioeconomic policy to take place in November, and December is the mineral rights review board and transitioning of existing interests. So how about this, then: If we can't get a notional plan to...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, I appreciate the sentiments that the work is important and needs to get done quickly, but the estimate completion is still 2027-2028 which puts us into the very end of the term. And, you know, call me a skeptic, but the last time we had a major -- you know, transformative mineral -- or mining initiative was the MRA that we put in in the 18th Assembly in the final year, and still not in force, which is what we're -- why the regulatory piece is still required. So I would be much more comfortable seeing this online map staking and the technology required for it to be...

Thank you. Well, I think about the people who have to process these applications; they must be very overworked. Is the Minister going to bring forward additional staffing resources in the coming year to ensure that there's 20 percent more capacity at SFA? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, turning to SFA again, it occurs to me that we haven't asked that fundamental question: Is this going to happen again in the next intake, or has the Minister fixed this capacity gap? Are we going to have enough capacity to process the applications to ensure there are no more late payments, everyone gets the resources they need on time to succeed at school? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, this program, I think, is all nestled under income assistance. When income assistance is late for -- has late fees related to power, they pay it. So I don't understand. We have a mechanism for that. Will the Minister use the same mechanism she uses for income assistance at the departmental level to pay these late fees and take the burden off of our learners? Thank you.