Yes. I correct myself actually. The 2009 survey is 17 years old. This government has made a priority on transparency and letting the public be as engaged as possible in decision-making. To be able to do that, asking the public what they think is best, and the program users, is what I feel is most appropriate at this time.

Yes, I guess that would be seven years.

---Laughter

In any event, I don't think that it has changed that much, so the question for the Minister is: is the Minister aware that the largest proportion of core need is adequacy?

I do have a flu, so I do apologize. It is actually seven years. My brain is a little bit foggy. Yes, currently it does show that adequacy is the current biggest problem within the regions. But in order to maintain our priorities within this 18th Legislative Assembly, I do think that it is appropriate to go to the communities again and ask them. Before I develop a plan, I want to be as up-to-date and current as I can with the information.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I indicated the problems we are having currently with having people become eligible for housing programs, largely because there are wrong programs out there and in some cases because individuals are just clearly not eligible. They have a core need, but they don't have all the right statistics to fit into the programs the Housing Corporation is currently offering. It is a huge issue. I would like to ask the Minister if they are going to look at programs that will directly address the housing needs in the NWT. Currently, the programs do not address the needs. The core need is not going down by any significant amount. I want to ask that question again. Will the Minister introduce programs that are appropriate to address core needs in the NWT? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes. As stated, I do realize that many of the programs are old and many of them might not be appropriate at this time. I adhere to the priority of the 18th Legislative Assembly that says we need to be transparent, and within doing that, then, I believe that the best philosophy is to ask the community and to develop a plan based on what the communities and the people that use the programs say they need.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier our Minister of Transportation made a statement about three of the major corridors that this government often speaks of. The government talks about investing in these highways, but what that really means is the people of the Northwest Territories investing in the highways. We are asking the residents of the NWT to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on these highways. I’d like to know what are the direct fiscal benefits that our residents are going to see from these investments? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Transportation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Increasing the number of communities connected to the public highway system is a key objective of expanding the transportation system. Transportation of goods and materials by the roads continues to be the most cost-effective way to deliver essential services to the communities. Construction of the Mackenzie Valley Highway and Tlicho all-weather road will add several communities to the highway system and greatly increase the window of access provided by winter roads to many other communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The other part of this equation that we always hear is that it's going to benefit industry and bring industry to the Northwest Territories. What other benefits to the industry can we expect to see from these roads?

Replacing existing winter roads will help us adapt to the pressure of climate change, which is reducing the window of access into more of these remote communities. Our winters are getting shorter and increasingly, warmer weather means that we cannot open up our winter roads as usual, as we've seen this year. This winter, our roads were late in opening resulting in an increased cost to our communities, delays in resupply, and decreased access to both residents and businesses.

Are there any of the benefits that the Minister would like to elaborate on?

---Laughter

As I've said in this House before, the Department of Transportation is pursuing funding from the New Building Canada Plan to fund these new projects. With access to this funding, it will bring economic benefits to all Northerners and communities, and help us tackle the climate change issue and other issues facing the remote and small communities.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to make sure got four questions in.

---Laughter

Finally, I'd just like to ask the Minister: how does the department intend to pay for all of these highways? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The department has a number of asks into the Federal Government through the Building Canada Infrastructure Projects. One of them is the P3 Project Plan through the FPT process for the Whati Highway. We have the Mackenzie Valley Highway, which is through the New Building Canada Plan Fund as well, and we also have the bundle three project through the FPT process with the federal government.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Yesterday, the Minister give us an update on the Junior Kindergarten Program, and the update seems to turn on a lot more of the kind of consultation that was done for the report itself. My first question is: what more is there to learn about junior kindergarten in order to implement it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There's many areas that we need to still go out and consult on. As Members are aware, the 17th Legislative Assembly, the government at the time, did put a pause on the program to ensure the rollout was adequate and that we did get engagement and consultation from all the Members. A comprehensive report was done. We took the eight recommendations out of the comprehensive report with the main one focusing on engaging our stakeholders, which are daycares, Aboriginal Head Start, parents, elders, community leaders, and not only that, but also finding out what is in the communities that can help them implement junior kindergarten a little bit better in terms of resources, the strengths that they have, and the makeup of the community. In those engagements, we will also go to the regional centers, which junior kindergarten wasn't part of, as well as here in Hay River. Part of that other stakeholder group is if the daycare centres and home daycares are getting as much information as we can so that when we do look at junior kindergarten, we can provide that program to the best of its ability meeting the needs of the child and the needs of the community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thanks to the Minister for that answer, but my question remains. Between the information that's available in the junior kindergarten report and the feasibility study on universal daycare, what information does the department not already have to proceed with implementation?

I did mention a few of the areas that we're looking into. Other areas, we're going to be looking at making the communication strategy on getting junior kindergarten communities a funding model, which was a big issue in the last government when junior kindergarten was first pushed out. We're looking at training our Early Childhood Development Officers plus the wage subsidy, and we want to get out there and do it right this time around and make sure that all communities do have input into the Junior Kindergarten Program and rolled out. It was a recommendation from the technical report that was brought forward. The feasibility study also gave us some really good reviews and said that we do need to continue with junior kindergarten, and we did get a lot of good feedback in that technical report.

Thank you to the Minister for his answer. Could the Minister please tell us what the timing is for implementing junior kindergarten?