Thank you, Mr. Speaker. About 12 months ago the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment promised, in this House, a review of the Junior Kindergarten program. Oh, that phrase sounds kind of familiar. Promised in this House. I’ve heard that before.

The Junior Kindergarten review was to be in done in July of 2015, and at the time of the announcement, I thought it was an ambitious timeline. Education, Culture and Employment has had a very full plate the last couple of years with Education Renewal Initiative and all the other reviews that they have been, and are, doing. But I took the Minister at his word and waited for notice of completion of the Junior Kindergarten report.

With all ECE is doing these days, when July came and went and there was no indication to either committee or Regular Members that a report was coming, I wasn’t surprised. I heard rumours suggesting the report might be done by the end of August, then the end of September. Well, we’re into October now and still no sign that a Junior Kindergarten report is on the horizon.

Obviously, the expected report is not going to have any impact on junior kindergarten operations for this school year. Obviously, there’s not going to be an opportunity for this Assembly to see the report and comment on it before the 2015 election, and that’s too bad. The 17thAssembly Standing Committee on Social Programs and several other Members invested considerable time, effort, thought and advice to government on the subject of junior kindergarten. All that experience will now be lost when it comes time to review the promised Junior Kindergarten review report, if it ever comes.

I know departments are busy. I know this report was intended to be comprehensive and so would take more than a bit of time. But the government should not make promises it cannot keep. I sincerely hope that Minister Lafferty’s promise is not as hollow as that made for the Deh Cho Bridge Project review.

I will have questions for the Minister at the appropriate time. Thank you.