Thank you, Mr. Chair. It
is time, and I think that's what the 17th Legislative Assembly did with some of the motions that passed, as well as some of the development of the action plans right from the start where we just developed them and we're trying to put some resources to those so we can have quality-educated people to run those facilities. However, with the motion before us, universal daycare may be an admirable goal, but it is important that we include items in our mandate that are achievable. The Feasibility Study on Universal Daycare done during the 17th Assembly showed there would need to be incremental annual investments between $17 and $40 million. There would also need to be investments to double the number of daycare spaces and there would need to be more than double the number of trained early childhood educators.
The department has committed to a number of activities that will help us to move towards the eventual goal of universal childcare. We intend to take steps to make childcare more affordable, strengthen the support for daycare operators, and improve access to licensed daycare spaces. We are supporting early childhood educators through wage subsidies, training, and scholarships for our residents that want to go into this type of work. However, given our fiscal situation, as all Members know, it is unlikely that we can make the kind of investment that will be needed to achieve universal daycare. We know the federal government has committed to investing in social infrastructure and we look forward to the detail on that investment. We also recognize that the NWT's need in areas like social housing and seniors’ facilities, which has been mentioned in this House during this session already. In my view, we need to consider whether our time and effort is best served detailing an action plan and implementation for an aspirational goal, or whether we should focus on strengthening our early childhood supports, programs, and build on those component parts that will be needed for universal daycare at some point in the future. As mentioned, the Right from the Start Early Childhood Development Framework is fairly new to this government from the 17th Legislative Assembly, and we want to put our efforts into making sure that we can achieve those goals that eventually lead us up to universal child daycare. Thank you, Mr. Chair.