Question has been called. I call upon Mr. Vanthuyne to conclude debate on the motion.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have no further comments. I appreciate the comments from previous Members. I would like to move the motion.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. All those in favour? All those opposed? Motion is carried.

---Carried

We will continue our discussion of the “Cost of Living” section. Are there any comments or questions? Ms. Green.

I move that Tabled Document 1-18(2), Proposed Mandate of the Government of Northwest Territories, 2016-2019, be amended on page 23 by deleting the words, “We will develop options for universal daycare and changes to support overall affordability, ensuring sustainability for early childhood program operators and expanded access to early childhood programs across the territory,” and inserting the words, “We will develop an action plan for universal daycare within the next two years, including a timeline for implementation.”

Thank you, Ms. Green. The motion is on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. Ms. Green.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Finding and paying for quality childcare is a significant problem for many families in the NWT. Childcare is available to only 39 per cent of children ages zero to for in the NWT, and 12 communities don't have licensed childcare centres now, including centres with substantial populations, such as Fort Liard, Lutselk'e, Norman Wells, and Tsiigehtchic. As a reference point, one in four NWT families has a child under five. There is no question that need outstrips availability. This information comes from a feasibility study completed by academics on universal childcare delivered to the 17th Assembly last year. Parents now face a variety of choices for childcare. They can stay home and care for their children themselves; they can make arrangements with family members; they can use a day home, a daycare centre, or a program such as Aboriginal Head Start. All have their merits. Cost is the major issue. In the cost of living study for Yellowknife last year, childcare emerged as the second-largest expense for a family of four at over $1,500 to have one child in fulltime, licensed care and another in an after-school program. The cost to families is prohibitive, especially if they have more than one child. Often, one parent decides to stay home rather than work fulltime to pay for childcare.

The answer to this problem is to provide more quality childcare. The feasibility study I mentioned just now ran the numbers on cost and benefits. Childcare provided on a universal basis becomes an important part of the economy. It returns $1.16 to the local economy for every dollar spent on childcare. As well, every childcare job creates or sustains two more jobs in the economy. This is a better investment than in mining, oil, or gas sectors. The authors of the study estimate that implementing universal daycare will add at least $16 million to our NWT gross domestic product and at least $15 million in labour income. There would be increased tax revenue and a decrease in income assistance costs. What's important to note here is the benefit to the economy of investing in childcare as well as the benefits to children and families. Another benefit of providing universal and affordable childcare is that it would bring people, especially women, back into the workforce who are not working now, all other things being equal, such as jobs being available and the workers having the appropriate qualifications. While there’s no specific number for the NWT, studies of labour force participation in Quebec indicate a seven per cent increase in the size of the workforce, once universal childcare was introduce there in 1997. And of course, those who participate in the labour force pay taxes, another benefit to the economy. The cost to government of providing universal daycare is $20 million a year, if funded at the same level as Quebec. I don’t want to go down the road of how we’re going to pay for increased childcare. That’s a question we’ll address during budget deliberations. What I’m looking for now is agreement that we build on the feasibility study by creating an action plan and a timeline for rolling out universal daycare when our financial situation allows and Members agree that it is apriority. The study recommends that we study the PEI model, because our population is small, as theirs is, and their model has avoided some of the problems that have developed in Quebec delivery of childcare. What I’m looking for now is agreement that there is a significant need for licensed, affordable childcare in the NWT. Providing this care has development opportunities for children by providing them with education as well as care. It has the potential to help parents return to the workforce and the creation of a sector of our economy that is now described as a cottage industry. In short, Mr. Chair, it’s time.

Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister Moses.

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.

Thank you, Minister Moses. To the motion. Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to say a couple of things on this motion. This is an important part of the future of our territory and our government. This type of spending is spending that has tremendous returns. We need to be able to be prepared to have people in the workforce. We need daycare that's affordable for people to go to work and turn our economy around. We know that spending in early childhood has tremendous returns and this is asking the government to develop an action plan within the next two years. We're looking down the road for a couple of years when it would be time for us to invest in our people and invest in our territory. These investments, like I said, have tremendous returns and the government should be looking at it from that perspective rather than just looking at the bottom line today and how much it might cost two years down the road. We should try to set the table for individuals to go to work and decrease the social spending across the territory, especially in small communities where we're relying so heavily on social spending by this government. This is one of the moves that is going to turn these things around. Eventually, we have to turn the ship and start to spend strategically. This is part of what I spoke about earlier in the Member’s statement on employment -- that this gives an opportunity for small community spend. People working in daycares is an opportunity for people to be working and any sort of spending in this area has tremendous returns.

I spoke to teachers in small communities where they see the vast difference between kids that have gone to daycare and kids where their parents can't afford to put them in daycare or have no ability to put them in daycare because there's no work. Those kids are coming in are more than a year ahead of some of the kids that are not going to daycare. This is important. This is very important for our people that we have the ability to place kids in this environment, get them ready for school. This has, like I said, tremendous returns. I don't know the exact stats, but kids in daycare are starting off in kindergarten way ahead of kids that are not going into daycare, and I think for that reason this is a motion that I would support strongly. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. First off, I'd like to thank the mover of the motion for a very eloquent and detailed rationale that sets out the importance of supporting universal daycare in our communities. I don't really want to repeat any of her arguments. I think she made them very well. What I want to do though, Mr. Chair, is focus back on the priorities that we identified as the 18th Assembly earlier on in our lives here. Back in December, the priority reads under “Cost of Living” number 6: “Implementing universal and affordable childcare.” That's what we committed to do together before people assumed their Cabinet hats and folks on this side. That's what we committed to do. What came back from Cabinet is “We will develop options.” That's helpful. I think what this motion, though, is really about is to try to strengthen that commitment and make it a measurable action. What we suggest is that there should be an action plan within two years, that's the difference. We've put a timeframe on it. It's not just about developing options, we want an action plan.

How we actually implement it, that's something we can debate and discuss in terms of the budget and when we see the action plan, but a vague commitment to develop options I just don't think reflects the priorities that we developed together for this Assembly back in December. I'm also very persuaded by the comments of the previous speaker about the importance of this for small communities and investing in our people. That's what this is really about, and making sure that we move that forward as a clear priority for the 18th Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. To the motion. Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Mr. Vanthuyne. To the motion.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I clearly agree with the previous speakers with regard to the concerns they are raising. Our territory is clearly young and it has a growing population. Many of our residents, as we know, live in isolated communities where economic opportunity is often hard to come by, and it’s our job as a government to remove as many obstacles to advancement as we can. Our government, as we know through the priority-setting process, is setting goals pertaining to education, pertaining to trades and apprenticeships, careers, business development -- all in the name of economic growth. If our territory is to achieve these goals, young families must have childcare that they can rely on. Universal childcare is a model that has been embraced by some of the most advanced societies, as we know, around the world. We should demonstrate that we have the will and the insight to follow that lead. Childcare must not only be reliable but, of course, affordable. It helps no one to have a childcare system that consumes the family budget. Without it, all manner of economic opportunity remains difficult and in some degree may even be unachievable. Lastly, the people who provide childcare must be able to make ends meet. If we are to trust them with the safety and care of our children, then in turn they must be able to be financially secure. I will be in support. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. To the motion. Mr. McNeely.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will be supporting this motion here, and I’ll share some information just to justify, as my previous speakers mentioned. In the speech that I said last week, in Norman Wells, at the current situation, I met two families. The man is bringing home the paycheques and the wife was working, and she can't work now because they can't find daycare services or homecare services. There’s two families right there who lost out on market paycheques coming in. We also had a daycare centre, and for whatever reason, it's not open. But at the current moment, it is a nice building. As I mentioned last week as well, it's a community initiative, well built, well put together, lots of toys inside for the kids, and so on. but it sits there dormant right now, just collecting snow, waiting for this motion to get active so we can reopen the doors. For those experiences and thoughts that I went to the houses on, and there are many others in the other communities as well across the NWT where spouses are experiencing that. For those reasons and other reasons, I will support the motion. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. McNeely. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm not going to elaborate. My colleagues have been pretty articulate on what we're trying to get across here. In my riding, representing Nahendeh, there are a number of issues with daycare, or childcare, I guess we'd say. In Fort Liard, we had to close our childcare because we couldn't afford it. The community couldn't afford it. We have other people in the communities having to not work because they can't get affordable and reliable childcare, which means income support has to be paid. It's unfortunate that this is happening. I think we need to be looking at it, come up with a plan and a strategy and a timeline that we can look at. I don't think it's being unrealistic for us to ask it. We've heard it on the campaign trail. This is what the residents of the Northwest Territories are asking us to do. I will be voting in support of this motion as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. I would like to remind Members that at 6:00 p.m., the Chair must rise and report progress, so we have about 50 minutes left until then. I don't know if the Chair wants to get through this today, but I'm just letting you know.

The question has been called. I call upon Ms. Green to conclude debate on this motion.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much, colleagues, for speaking in support of this important initiative, and thank you to the Minister for his remarks. I just want to reflect that I understand that the road to Whati is going in to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board for permitting without any money to build it and so surely creating a plan to implement daycare, and a timeline, for it is no more outlandish a use of time and resources by the government. What we are talking about here, as you have heard, is education. It's about care, but it's about education. Surely, our children are worth 20 kilometres of highway in order to educate them and make them successful citizens of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.