Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the Members for bringing this motion forward as amended. I appreciate all the Members who spoke to the motion and all the comments, concerns from the small communities, communities that have Aboriginal Head Start, and the regional centres here in Yellowknife as well.
Mr. Speaker, the government believes that we owe it to the children of the Northwest Territories to give them the best start in life. To achieve this, it's going to take some changes from all of us. The early development instrument shows that the status quo isn't working, and junior kindergarten is one of the ways to fix the status quo. We need to bring it to all kids and all families in the Northwest Territories.
The government is on the record as having accepted all the recommendations of the Junior Kindergarten Review released earlier this year and have incorporated them into our planning. We have been meeting actively with stakeholders, including teachers, principals, the NWT Teachers' Association, board chairs, superintendents, the Tlicho government, the Tlicho Community Services Agency, many licensed child care centres and family day home operators, Aboriginal Head Start managers, the NWT Montessori Society, and the Children First Society. We continue to engage with stakeholders to make sure that we know what each community needs, and the best way to implement junior kindergarten across the Northwest Territories.
We have significantly increased rates for entrance to the Early Childhood Program Operating Subsidy to help minimize the impact of junior kindergarten on licensed daycare providers.
Mr. Speaker, 19 communities have already benefitted from free, play-based junior kindergarten and the government wants to make sure kids and families in the rest of the NWT get that same opportunity. We've made a commitment in the mandate to work with the stakeholders and the communities to ensure that the Territory has free, play-based care for four-year-olds, and to develop an action plan for universal child daycare.
Full implementation of junior kindergarten is one of the ways we are fulfilling those commitments. Mr. Speaker, Cabinet will be supporting this motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.