Thanks to the Minister for those remarks. I’m sure he, as well as myself and the public, will be very interested in seeing that work completed.
I have to comment on the Inuvik children’s facility, the Children First Centre. As I believe the House knows, I’m a huge supporter of early childhood development programs and so on. Child care programs are not necessarily child development programs, and that distinction needs to be well understood by our decision-makers.
I have a major disappointment that this decision was made without a policy in place. As the Minister alluded to, that was pointed out in discussions with the Minister from committee and, again, a huge disappointment that there doesn’t seem to be understanding of the need for a policy on which to base these decisions. That’s so important to me because there have been many organizations, possibly equally motivated, who have been turned down for support. Ultimately, it becomes a question of fairness and particularly during a time when infrastructure funds are very tight. On that basis
and with the failure to establish a policy, I’m not sure that I will support that expenditure.
I understand, too, that we have not worked to have any influence on the programs offered by declaring an interest in investing a million or a good amount of money into this piece of infrastructure. There is that concern too. I think, when we’re investing infrastructure, we want to be sure and have a policy role as well.
I guess I’ll leave it at that for now and ask the Minister if he has any comments.