Thank you, Mr. Speaker. WHEREAS one of the goals of the 17th Assembly is

“healthy, educated people free from poverty;”

AND WHEREAS one of the priorities of the 17th Assembly is “supporting child care programs to help parents become or stay employed;”

AND WHEREAS the “$7 per day” daycare program in Quebec has been shown to decrease poverty by cutting in half the number of single parents on welfare and increasing their after-tax income by 81 percent in the first decade;

AND WHEREAS the child poverty rate in Quebec is now half of what it was before the “$7 per day” daycare program was started;

AND WHEREAS the universal daycare programs in Scandinavia have been shown to decrease poverty;

AND WHEREAS the “$7 per day” daycare program in Quebec has been shown to improve the life chances of women and the poor and to build a better quality labour force;

AND WHEREAS the “$7 per day” daycare program in Quebec increased the number of women in the workplace by 22 percent;

AND WHEREAS focusing on early childhood development and education from infancy to three years old has been shown to greatly increase a child’s chances of success in school and later in life;

AND WHEREAS the daycare programs in Quebec and Scandinavia are run by people who are trained in early childhood development and education;

AND WHEREAS poverty rates in the NWT are unacceptably high, with more than one-third of single-parent families living below the poverty line;

AND WHEREAS the current daycare system in the NWT does not provide enough spaces and is not affordable;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Sahtu, that within the next 12 months the Government of the Northwest Territories conduct a feasibility study on putting in place universal, affordable child daycare run by people trained in early childhood development and education, similar to the systems in Quebec and Scandinavia;

AND FURTHER, that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a response to this motion within 120 days.