Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s interesting; they’re abstaining on this motion,
maybe because they don’t have the numbers. It’s just to reference a point.
I worry, frankly, that the Minister has misunderstood the issue. He’s too quick to comment and point out and reference experts, experts none of us would deny. Frankly, I don’t care what the experts are saying about JK because that’s not the issue. It’s about the implementation. I believe the expert Shanker had said by age four it’s already too late anyway, so are we accomplishing the goals? Not one Member on this side of the House spoke against JK. Everybody here is in favour of the merits, the quality programming, the opportunities they create for people in small communities, the fact that we all believe in helping the child get the best start to their future. You don’t have to look any further to facts such as our graduation rates and ask ourselves could we do things better. This is exactly the thing we want to be part of.
[English translation not provided.]
…a child growing up for the future. We want to be part of that future.
The government wants to make 14 grades out of 13 years of funding. Now, I didn’t know when this Minister started apprenticing under David Copperfield and made the Statue of Liberty disappear, but how is he going to make more programing happen with less money per child? It’s not necessarily meant to be an insult. The reality is it’s impossible. It’s an illusion.
MLA Moses had talked about the impacts of Children’s First Society in Inuvik. We’re three months away from the implementation of this program and the Minister says we still have to have discussions. The rollout is in three months. We should be having the end of discussions about this at this point. I don’t expect the Minister to know everything. I think that’s impossible and not fair, but we’re asking pillar-style questions. These are what hold the building up. Every one of our questions is about the cornerstone of its success. What about the funding? What about the training? What about the availability of space? Why are you taking money away? Every single one of these are very important questions. Perhaps the Minister knows things he hasn’t shared with us; I don’t know.
There is a net loss to large districts, and by the way, that’s not just Yellowknife. That’s also potentially Hay River, potentially Fort Smith, potentially Inuvik. We cannot allow this to happen. The other thing that starts a worry is what’s going to happen down the road. We just don’t know. The public is quite clear on this. I would hope that the government would understand that. We support funding students properly from the start everywhere they live. There is no surprise or shock to that. No one has said anything to the contrary.
Recently, the NWTTA president came to us and told us about the workload of teachers. Now the Minister of Education wants more out of them. I think they’ve already given their share and he wants more.
Pick a single community initiative. We’ll get behind this. Show us where you need support. We’ll be behind this. I keep saying it. I don’t know why the Minister isn’t listening. It’s not about the merits of junior kindergarten; it’s about the implementation plan.
The Minister will go on about his statistics. Yes, we’re not the worst. We’re just barely above the last one. He talks about the highest cost per student that they implement in our schools. We’re the most expensive jurisdiction. These things make sense. May I remind the whole Cabinet, when it’s their idea and their initiative, they always seem to find money. They always do.
This is the people’s initiative. This is not a Regular Member’s initiative. This is the people’s initiative and we are just here to support the voices of the people that have been coming in loud and clear. The bottom line is we want to help, not reduce. We want to support, not take away.
It has been loud and clear. There is no way to offset this by playing a shell game one school board against another, one community against another. I’m reminded, as I’m going to finish here, of a famous quote from somebody we all have heard of, Stephen Covey. He always says, begin with the end in mind. If our children are the most important, will the Minister of Education let us help him? We want to be part of that solution. Let us begin with the end in mind. Thank you.
