Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to start by thanking all of my colleagues who have spoken to this motion. I think everybody was detecting the possible gain that could be made with this program, even those that were most concerned about the bottom line, so I appreciate their support and the concerns expressed, many of which I agreed with, with the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Mr. Yakeleya mentioned it’s something like over $40 per day per child daycare costs. I assumed $40 a day and did a quick calculation: For two children at $1,800 per month; three children, $2,640 per month, so we know it’s something about that. These are entirely prohibitive for, I would say, most people in the Northwest Territories.

Child care providers, it’s a bit of a roll of the dice on the quality and the training that the providers have. What we’re looking for here is looking into a system that provides a known quantity there. We want people that are early childhood education workers, early childhood development professionals to be working in those child care facilities.

The current system is loaded, as we know, with barriers. It’s not affordable. It’s poorly accessible, albeit the Minister is doing what he can to build up the program and getting support from us in the meantime. But the bottom line here is we don’t have the child care spaces. We need them, and we need them to be affordable. Many benefits were mentioned and dwelt upon, the improved labour force and so on. The birthrate is something that I hadn’t mentioned, and I knew that would catch the interest of the Finance Minister and the Premier. Apparently, that is a phenomenon that does happen. Mr. Hawkins mentioned that he would expect this to happen with this sort of support, and of course, I know this House is interested in that.

I appreciate Mrs. Groenewegen stepping out here. I believe her comment was, “I can go along with this, I guess,” so that’s stepping out for Mrs. Groenewegen. I appreciate that. But the dilemma she posed, what about the moms and dads that should be staying home and looking after these

kids. Well, that could be, and I think that is absolutely the first priority, and what we want is a system that would encourage that and support that as a first priority to the degree that it’s possible. I think we are having some mechanisms in place in our workplace now that supports that sort of thing. That is the first priority.

Unfortunately, 38 percent of the people in poverty in the Northwest Territories are single parents with children and they don’t have that option. There are many other exceptions and that’s what we’re talking about here. It could be a key underpinning to both our Anti-Poverty Strategy and our early childhood development programs. That has been mentioned. It will attract people and keep people here. Again I’m sure the Minister of Finance and the Premier will be very interested in that aspect of the program.

The benefits begin accruing quickly, very quickly, because it frees up parents to go out and get work or the education that they need. The most important bundles in our life, as I believe Mr. Hawkins mentioned, need to be reflected in our policies and programs. That’s what we’re talking about and that’s, I think, why it has the fundamental support across the House here is that true statement that I think we can all subscribe to.

There was heavy-hearted support because we need to be fiscally responsible. Again, I don’t think there’s a person in the House that disagrees with that. We do need to be fiscally responsible, and I am asking that we do the full cost accounting. In the assessment work that’s been done on these programs, in every case it has indicated benefits based on financial aspects, economic aspects and social aspects. Somebody mentioned the federal government. I think Mr. Nadli mentioned the need for federal government participation. In fact, the Quebec model shows that without putting a dime into the program, the federal government was gaining 44 cents per dollar expended by the Quebec government because of the increased economic activity that was enabled by a comprehensive, affordable child care program. Pretty darn substantial.

That assessment needs to be done. I agree with Mrs. Groenewegen, Mr. Bouchard and others that have mentioned that. That’s what we’re on about here. We want it looked at critically but with a full cost accounting approach to meet many of the needs of this House and, again, to complement the various strategies that we have and are being put in place. As we know, those that are pursuing so hard the early childhood development and anti-poverty programs, all of them will tell you this would be a core underpinning to those programs and strategies.

Again, thank you very much for this opportunity, Mr. Speaker.