Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment has signed a deal to extend the Canada-wide child early learning -- learning program, the $10-a-day program. While families are appreciative of these efforts, daycare providers are still -- or childcare providers are still very concerned about a system that looks to be unsustainable. The funding's been extended until 2031, 2032, without any changes, which means no additional funding to address the concerns that have been raised by the sector or increasing wages for workers in the sector for another five years. I know the Minister's live to these concerns. Can the Minister speak to why no increases in the contributions to the Northwest Territories were secured in this recent extension of the deal? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can promise this House it was not for lack of trying. As the Member also would have seen in the same news article, we weren't alone in resigning that agreement with Canada. That agreement is to the tune of $80 million over the lifespan of that agreement, and it is very difficult to say no to $80 million that supports families with young children to access childcare.
I absolutely acknowledge what the Member is saying about the fact that there are challenges with that program and the implementation of it in the Northwest Territories, issues that I very vocally shared with my federal counterparts over the course of the negotiating period. I was incredibly active in speaking with the federal government about ways that that program does not fully satisfy the needs of the Northwest Territories and can also advise the Member because of those conversations, we did not sign the agreement until the 11th hour. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I mean, it's becoming increasingly apparent that this program's not working. I don't think it's working anywhere in Canada. But leaving money on the table is not an option but finding money from within is. So one way we can do that is the funding formulas may be the same across all provinces and territories, as the Minister pointed out, but there's different legislative environments. And in some cases, they allow for extra fees, voluntary fees to be charged in jurisdictions, including Alberta. Will the Minister bring changes to policy and legislation to allow voluntary fees to be charged by childcare providers in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Certainly as previously committed to in this House, that is an aspect of the agreement that I'm currently looking into with the department. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Range Lake.
Thank you. I've looked into it as well, and you know who else has, Mr. Speaker? Mr. Speaker, the childcare providers and their advocates, the associations, have looked to it -- looked into it as well. They want these changes made. So can the Minister commit to doing more than looking into them and actually change these things, make a commitment to change these things before this problem gets worse. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my concern is implementing or agreeing to something on the floor of the House without doing my due diligence because in the end, we could end up having our agreement cancelled which costs this territory and families in this territory a tremendous amount of money. We would risk losing our agreement with Canada if we are found to be in contravention of it. So I want to ensure that I'm doing my due diligence before making an $80 million mistake. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
