Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I stand here today and I want to thank the mover and seconder for bringing this motion forward. Yesterday we had a strong discussion and strong information brought forward to this House, so the public could understand why we bring motions like this to the floor of the House.
The Education Renewal Initiative is going to be a 10-year plan, so this government has the responsibility and the decisions to put what goes into this plan, something that’s going to be concrete for our future leaders. As I mentioned earlier in my Member’s statement, we do have an organization down south that is doing great work for our youth and yet we are having a hard time providing the same type of quality service here in the North.
Over the next 10 years, all the information that’s going into this ERI document is going to be an investment. This government is going to have
probably one of the greatest investments in our youth and the return on our investments is going to be priceless. We are going to have people that are educated, with quality education and quality educators that are going to contribute back to the society and that’s going to increase a sustainable economy here for the Northwest Territories.
In this motion it talks about community-based, GNWT-supported early childhood initiative programs and that’s where we have to start our investment. As I said yesterday, I have taken a strong interest in education, more into early childhood development being part of this Legislative Assembly and will continue to support throughout my term.
Like I said, I will be supporting this motion and thank all Members who have stood up and spoke in favour of early childhood development and making sure that this document that goes out to the community, that this document gets input from the communities, from the educators, from all those that are involved in education.
Like I said, I will be supporting this motion. I hope that this government does the right thing and that we have a strong investment in the future of our territory and the future of our leaders and our students. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.