Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, have many concerns about junior kindergarten. I know the communities I represent have signed up to take this on in the fall.

This year was the first year of a pilot project and Tsiigehtchic was one of the communities that did the pilot project. Because there are only two

students enrolled, it wasn’t as challenging and they did receive $40,000 to help with the pilot project, which the communities won’t be getting next year. That’s the concern. That’s the issue here.

The communities need extra funding to help implement this, whether it’s for materials they need to carry out their education program that they’ll have in place or also for an assistant. Right now they have to use the budget they have right now to hire an assistant, buy the materials. That’s an extra strain on the system that they have in place. I know our teachers are confident that they can do this, but they need the resources. They need that extra funding. They need an extra assistant. We have two communities in my riding that are going to have 18 extra students with junior kindergarten into their class that they already have, which is close to 30 students for one teacher. I mean, it’s just not going to work.

This government supports education but we have to do it right. We don’t want to set these children up for failure. We want them to succeed, and the way that they’re going to succeed is we give them the proper resources. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.