Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I don't really have any authority and don't have the authority constitutionally to do anything per se. That said, Mr. Speaker, having the opportunity to raise the issue publicly, as the Member's doing here, probably is one of the strongest things we can do to get all of the public aware, and they can make their own choices and decisions and participate as members of the public vis-a-vie the federal government in terms of raising the voices from the North. As I've indicated, we certainly can write in general with respect to this decision, keeping in mind that it is a decision by an administrative body and that does put some obligation to be respectful, given that we are, again, also a level of government that is not directly responsible. But having this conversation here, again, Mr. Speaker, there's a lot that members of the public may want to do. Thank you.

Merci, Monsieur le President. I want to thank the Minister for that. I spoke on the lack of NWT representation on the CRTC. There's an Alberta-NWT commissioner in name only. The commission's enabling legislation provides for a board of up to 13 members. There are currently nine, one vacancy.

Can the Minister tell us what action, if any, has this Cabinet taken about nominating individuals or changing the composition or appointment requirements for the CRTC? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, I am also aware of the appointments to the CRTC insofar as they are known on the internet. The federal government does not have an obligation to come to me with respect to their decisions over who they appoint. They are appointments done by the Canadian heritage minister, federal Canadian heritage minister so, again, they're five-year appointments. It may well be that it's an opportunity to put forward some names if people in the Northwest Territories are interested in this area. I would certainly be interested in hearing from them or hearing about them. But, again, it's an appointment made by a federal minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Frame Lake.

Merci, Monsieur le President. Glad that the Minister offered a free advertisement there for people interested in the CRTC and that Cabinet's willing to maybe even nominate some people. That's great.

So when this subject was last raised in this House a couple weeks ago, the Minister committed to write a letter to, quote, "comment upon or to express some concern around this decision," end of quote. So I think the Minister said that she hasn't written the letter but can the Minister actually confirm that she does intend to write this letter, and will she commit to table it in the House before we break on March 9th? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department and I do have a draft letter that we are working on. It will be ready I think by the end of today or tomorrow. I am mindful again that this is a federal adjudicative body that has made an adjudicative decision whether or not we may now agree with it. And so in my role, I do want to be conscious of what I comment upon and how I do so. When I made that determination, I'd certainly be, if it's appropriate, happy to table it or at the very least to share it with Members confidentially. But, again, this is a good opportunity to let members of the public more broadly know that they certainly can also lend their voices if they may choose to do so, depending upon how they feel about the matter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment in regards to the early childhood infrastructure fund. Currently the fund is set at $1 million every year, and I'm wondering if there is a plan to increase this fund given ECE's current child care goals? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No one would like to see this fund increased more than myself. I could take a win right now but I don't have a million dollars in my back pocket. The budget is, you know, it's before committee right now. And so the Member is aware what the budget for this upcoming year is, and it will be $1 million. In the future, I'm sure the budget will increase but it is not in the immediate future. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, during a March 2022 public hearing with the Standing Committee on Social Development, the Minister and staff stated that increases to the fund would be made in, quote, "considerations for project going forward based on need." So I'm wondering if the fund isn't intended to increase, how potentially would the Minister be able to accomplish this based on need, and what would be used as determinants of need? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And this is one avenue that organizations can pursue to get new child care infrastructure or assist with that. Indigenous governments also have their own child care agreements with the federal government and so there could be funds through there. The early childhood infrastructure fund is proposal-based and so "proposals" very widely in terms of what they're proposing, the cost of what they're proposing. But what the fund is intended to do is support more spaces. So adding spaces to existing programs or creating new spaces.

We looked at communities where there is established demands, such as Yellowknife. We also look at communities with no child care to ensure that there is equitable access. The proposals need to demonstrate a need for the early learning and child care in their community. There must also be a plan for the delivery of a licensed program once it becomes operational. It's not just we want a building; we also -- the department also needs to see a plan for once that building is in use. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, based on the high demand of child care in some communities, I'm wondering if this fund, if it is able to provide full funding to some programs based on what is left in the pot or if the department of education has a maximum of what they're prepared to provide to child care centres? Thank you.

Sorry, Mr. Speaker. I might have missed the question, but we have $1 million in the fund, and based on the programs that apply that's how we make a determination. So sometimes there may only be a few programs that actually qualify based on the proposal. And so those programs, as we've seen in the past, can get some significant amounts of funding. And I apologize if I missed the Member's statement. I will say that we have also overspent. I believe we spent $1.28 million last year on this because there was a number of good proposals, and there was a demonstrated need that we wanted to support. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my previous question was in regards to whether or not the fund can fund an entire project or if it can only fund a portion of a project. But my next question -- and if the Minister is able to answer that, great. And the reason that I ask this is that in my statement I also talked about the Yellowknife Daycare Association who paid just over $4 million before the pandemic, before inflation, before the high cost -- higher cost of building in the Northwest Territories for 104 spaces. If the goal of ECE is to create 300 new spaces, the $1 million absolutely won't cut it. And I appreciate the Minister acknowledging that he too would like to see an increase in this fund. And so my concern is that if for some communities who don't have the ability to go out and do some own source revenues, if daycare centres are kind of being dictated what their increases can be, there's some concern about how they're going to turn around and pay for a potentially really high cost of building infrastructure spaces. And so I'm wondering if the GNWT is expecting to plan for some -- or some infrastructure increases within the child care agreement through the federal government going forward to address this huge infrastructure deficit and this need in the territory? Thank you.

Thank you. So every time we speak to the federal government, we talk about the cost of infrastructure in the Northwest Territories. I think that we're all aware of the cost but when we speak to federal officials and politicians, it's clear that they're often taken aback by the cost. So we do our best at the officials level, at the political level, to hammer home, you know, the reality of the cost in the North and the changes we've seen over the past few years. We've seen costs double, triple, and even more than that. So we are working with the feds on this. We are doing our best to look at what we have internally and how we can best use that and at the same time looking for additional resources from the federal government. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Written questions. Returns to written questions. Mr. Clerk.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Returns to written questions. Replies to the Commissioner's address. Petitions. Reports of committees on the review of bills. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. The motion is in order. To the motion?

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Any abstentions? Motion is carried.

---Carried

Reports of committees on the review of bills. Member for Yellowknife North.