Thank you, Madam Chair. I am glad that the Member agrees with me. Coming from the NGO world, I know that, at least for the last 25 years, NGOs have been asking for multi-year funding. I am glad that this will be a government to bring this forward. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Next on my list is the Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. That last piece of news from the Premier was quite good. Just a couple of points, I guess, I would like to make on this section. This has been raised in the House before, by the Member for Yellowknife Centre and by myself. Is there a role in early childhood development and Child and Family Services for a child and youth advocate? We're the only jurisdiction in Canada that doesn't have one. Is that something that this government is going to look at? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. My deputy minister is feeling like he wants to talk for a while, so I will let Martin Goldney have the chair for a minute.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Mr. Goldney.

Thank you, Mr. Goldney. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Well, let's keep the good news rolling here. No, I'm very happy to hear that, because it was something that was consistently raised in the last Assembly. If those options can be shared with standing committee, that would be great. I see some heads shaking, but I'll let them respond at the appropriate time.

We've just established the Office of the Ombud, and I think we have a child advocate in the legal system. I might not get the title right, but there are some other similar or related functions. My objective here is to get the function covered somehow so that there is some oversight and someone independent who can look at the whole system and how it works and help keep us on track in terms of the Auditor General's report and the action plan that has been developed by Health and Social Services and so on. Can the models or approaches be shared can standing committee before they're finalized by Cabinet? Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Absolutely, we'll share the models with standing committee. I do want to point out, though, within the last month, I believe it was -- it might be a little bit more -- I had a constituency meeting, and I believe that there were foster parents who were actually told to come to my constituency meeting. The foster parents came, and they shared a whole bunch of issues with me. The people who asked them to come to my constituency meeting didn't realize that I was a social worker, I'm thinking. I engaged with them, because these are the people I work with every day.

When they talked about a child advocate, because they were saying, "We need a youth advocate, we need a youth advocate," I asked them, "What is that? What do you need?" They were talking about all kinds of things, Madam Chair. They weren't talking about a youth advocate. They were looking at an appeal process, a grievance process, a process to help the foster parents, so I think that the first thing that we need to do when we look at this is actually ask the people, ask the stakeholders who are providing services, the people receiving services, what do they want to see? Not with the title. "What do you need to help you?" Then, from that, from the words of the people, then we should be defining what the role is. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Member for Frame Lake.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Look, I would expect that our government would engage with foster parents in terms of what and how this office might be set up and so on, but I think it would be important to not start from ground zero, but to have the kind of jurisdictional scan and best practices piece of work, maybe as a discussion paper, just like what you guys did with the post-secondary education legislation. You went out and did a jurisdictional scan and some best practice stuff, and the Premier knows this because it's something that she did in her previous life in the past Assembly. I think we're getting close to being on the same page here, so that's good.

The last item I want to mention is: I will confess I don't know a lot about the early childhood development indicator. I think it is on about a three- or four-year cycle in terms of when it is done in the schools. I think it is going to be hard for us to show progress even within the term of this Assembly. This is work that needs to be done over a long period of time to get us where we need to go. What I am looking for is some interim targets, measurables, in this section.

What I want to do is just get you to flip the page for a moment and look at universal childcare, where there are some clear targets here. I wish there were a few more: 25 new spaces; 20 licensed childcare spaces; an increase by 5 percent. What I want to encourage you folks to do is to think of what the measurables and targets are that are going to help us get to where we want to be at the end of four years and leading to the long-term progress we need to make, because that is not in here. It is going to be hard for us to keep you guys accountable and for you to report on progress, trying to work together. Just think about some clear measurables for this one in particular. That is all I have got. Thanks, Madam Chair. If the Premier wants to respond, I would be interested in hearing that. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member for Frame Lake. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We do have some deliverables in here. A new curriculum will be evaluated. The reporting curriculum will be developed. Training will be provided for family support workers. There is some in here. I recognize that it would have been nice to have numbers, et cetera, like in some of our other ones. Early childhood development is a passion of mine. I know it is a passion of many of our Members and Cabinet Members sitting around the table here, as well. Education is a passion. We won't let this drop. However, I do appreciate the Member's note. If we provide services now, the outcomes for those children, if we provided the best service, won't show for years. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Next on my list, I have the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Madam Premier.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Now, I am going to make a commitment that the department had better take note of. I agree with you. We have to make sure that every region has these supports. This is key. Scandinavia is way ahead of us. I am thinking that a lot of politicians, wise politicians in the day in Scandinavia, made the choice of looking for the future versus "Look at me. I am glory. Look what I can do in my four-year term." I hope that all Members will actually think about that as we move forward, because that is the answer. We will start to track. I have a personal investment to make sure that all children have services as best as we can provide. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Any further points, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh? Are there any further comments on page 24, "Improve early childhood development indicators for all children?" Seeing none, we will move on to page 26, "Advance universal childcare by increasing availability and affordability." Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Madam Chair, one of the questions I know we talked about is in the way we do business. I think it was allowing for clients who live in low-cost housing, NWT Housing Corporation, to run businesses out of their homes. Because we want to increase the amount of licensed childcare spaces, would this priority help to do that? We know there is a lot of aunties and grandmas and uncles who probably do this already. If we were able to do it and they were able to be licensed so that they could take in kids and make some money and provide an income, is this part of this priority? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes. Madam Premier.

Absolutely, Madam Chair. If you look at the third bullet, it is: amend our income assistance and housing programs to allow for delivery of licensed childcare programs. The reason I am insistent on licence within that is because there is money with having licensed childcare. There is quality control with having licensed childcare. People on income support and in housing programs too often are forced because of government red tape, government policies that aren't people-friendly, that say you have to hide if you want to have an extra income, if you want to support your grandchild, et cetera. This hopefully will open that up, allow small businesses to develop, allow caregivers in the homes to actually access funding to support children, and allow quality program that we can monitor. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Anything further, Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes?