Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today Members alluded to what I like to refer to as a small sliver of success for the stakeholders of Junior Kindergarten. The Executive Council, led by our Premier, has failed to address the most important aspect of the current rollout of Junior Kindergarten. Who is going to pay for this? Although a recent dispute on the actual financial impact of Junior Kindergarten rollout has been occurring publicly between both Yellowknife school boards and the department, the issue, Mr. Speaker, is not the mechanics of the calculation but the final agreed to amount. In the end, the three-year cumulative funding reduction of just under $2 million is hitting the mill rate taxpayers of Yellowknife. This is the real issue. Since this

announcement came today from the Premier, it is to him I will be addressing my questions.

We know the original rollout to the 23 communities for Junior Kindergarten was done with an ill-conceived funding model, with no new money from the GNWT budget and cleverly funded with surplus monies from school boards and authorities.

Can the Premier tell us why the funding component for today’s announcement was purposely referred to as a “no change approach”? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.