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

---Carried

Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories review the appeals process in the Child Day care Act.

1. In the short-term with the view to
   1. Identify and make improvements to make sure that the Act clearly outlines out appeals can be requested and considered; and,
   2. Clarify how complaints and appeal processes are distinguished in the Act; and,
   3. Recommend how administrative decisions are made fairly, consistently, and in accordance with the legislation.

And,

1. In the long-term, with the view to
   1. Fully review the appeals section;
   2. Include comparison with other jurisdictions; and,
   3. Result on a modernized appeals section.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion.

Question has been all. All those in favour? All those opposed? Abstentions? Motion is carried.

---Carried

Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories include in its vision of a sustainable child care system information on the following:

• How to support the early learning and child care sector in its transition;
• How to embrace NWT realities without disadvantaging any of the existing parts of the child care sector;
• Considerations for licensing and supporting that proportion of the child care sector constituted by for-profit day homes.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion.

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

---Carried

Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you. The motion is in order -- oh, Member for -- or to the motion. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Again, just sort of reiterating what I said before. I think this motion is really key for the government in order to ensure that we don't lose any more spaces. I know that there has been talk about new spaces being created. But those were all in the works before this issue around the child care funding and the subsequent changes. You know, I do think that there is an opportunity for this relationship to be repaired. However, it is going to take, I think, the will of the department and the Minister to want to recognize that regardless of how they feel about for-profit operators and such, and who deserves this funding, they have created and set in motion a wave of closures that, you know, is not going to be stopped at this point if nothing is specifically done. So I don't think can wait on anything further. And I think that there really needs to be proactive action now to fix the problem versus waiting and seeing what happens, because it'll take a lot more to create new spaces again once they're gone than to save the ones we have already. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. To the motion. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I didn't get my hand up fast enough there. No, I wanted to speak to this one because this is definitely one of the most important recommendations as far as what we heard from child care providers across the territory. One of the biggest concerns, especially from not for profit organizations, is their ability to keep operating when we have, in previous legislation, set a limit to what that cost increase can be for what they are charging parents on an annual basis, and then we are coming in and we are setting a wage grid that will show, or dictate rather, what the workers that work in these operations need to be paid. And so the concern there is what if all of a sudden insurance goes through the roof, which it has, how do they turn around and pay for that? What if all of a sudden a child care operation loses a boiler? This is something that can absolutely happen. There are unexpected expenses that come up and how do people keep their doors open when they don't have a mechanism to charge for these shortfalls. And so understanding how people are going to keep the doors open when their costs -- sorry, for when what they are charging is dictated by the government but then also what they are paying out is dictated by the government. And so this is a huge concern.

That second piece there, incentive loans for new buildings and retrofits, when we look at lessons learned from Quebec, when they introduced their very heavily government-subsidized child care, one of the things that they saw was all of a sudden way more people were accessing child care and all of a sudden, there was way more demand than spaces for child care. That is exactly what we are seeing in the Northwest Territories right now. And one of the key things that lessons learned have said out of Quebec are build as many new spaces and not for profits as you can right off the bat in order to meet that demand. And our infrastructure funding in the territory is not enough to actually build the new spaces that this government intends to build across the territory.

Sorry, Madam Chair, the last thing that I just quickly wanted to say is that that last piece of allow training without impacting existing work schedules, if all of a sudden people need to close their day homes in order to do training, we will have another huge problem on our hands. So the government, I can't stress enough, this is a very important recommendation and I look forward to hearing a response. Thank you.

Thank you. To the motion.

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

---Carried

Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move that this committee recommends that the Government of the Northwest Territories view the obligation to consult on regulations as an opportunity for innovation, inclusiveness, flexibility, and reconciliation, and be open to considering detailed feedback. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion. Member for Frame Lake.

Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. I don't think I can tell you how many times in the last Assembly we tried to get into legislation some obligations for Ministers, Cabinets, department, whatever, to actually consult in the development of regulations. So this is a really significant concession that committee negotiated with the Minister, and I'm just not sure that people really realize how significant this is. You know, we do this with Indigenous governments now, and we're required to do it, but to get this for a sector, this is really good. And to get it actually in legislation, not just practice, because I think this government's made some improvement in its practices but it's still kind of hit and miss about what they go out for, the quality of the so-called "what we heard" reports go from atrocious to pretty good sometimes. But lots of need for better reports on what we heard. But this is a very significant concession, and I want to thank the Minister because I know he was on this side of the House for pushing for some of this in the last Assembly, and this is really good. And I think we need to do more of this in the future. But also think of the public. And I keep planting those seeds with my friends on the other side. Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thank you. To the motion. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. No, I would also like to extend a huge amount of gratitude to the Minister and his department on this one, this one, and as far as paying credit where credit is due and being able to say some nice things to the other side of the House, especially when we pick on them every day.

We did the same type of amendment in Bill 40, the Medical Professions Act from social development in conjunction with the Minister of Health and Social Services and her staff, and that is where this amendment and, really, the implementation of it in a lot of our work has come from. And so I want to first thank the Minister of Health and Social Services for agreeing to that. And then also thank the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and his staff for following us down that road and implementing that. Hopefully we'll see that in more legislation going forward. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. To the motion.