Thank you, Madam Chair. And I first want to start by thanking -- thanking some of the constituents in my riding that do run day homes who actually were the source for some of these suggestions, particularly which really struck me was, you know, making the change of the age limit. That one being very critical to my constituents. But also the one that really struck me that I hadn't thought about was the substitution list, which the day home providers are saying that basically because they know that they're sick day will then result in, you know, six other people or potentially parents having to stay home from work if they were to choose the day, that they often find themselves working when sick or, you know, finding themselves at the end of burnout because they don't have the opportunity to take the time when they need it. And so I think there's some really easy low hanging fruit, as everyone likes to call it, in this recommendation that could easily be done that would create a bit more of sort of a network or community for day home providers.

I grew up living next door to a day home provider and the amount of work and effort that this woman put in for the children in her care, there is no way she was making a profit off of it. If anything, she was providing Christmases to children that didn't have it otherwise.

So having visited some of my constituents' homes, I recognize the absolute level of dedication and effort that they've put in to creating these amazing spaces for their clients and their children. And there's some very -- but yet they're not treated in the sense of another type of an industry where they would be given the respect, I think, that others would have or even just sort of the supports, like I said, to be able to go and network and find -- they're not people that are showing up at the Chamber of Mines -- or sorry, the Chamber of Commerce meetings and such. So, really, I think the onus is on the government and the department to help them figure out how to network and support each other and, you know, if someone is at a lower level, they can pick up slack in another area and vice versa, giving people a break when they need it.

Another really key piece was when this all came out, one of the things that I wanted to see was to see grandparents being paid to take care of their children, to see the unusual day care sort of -- or child care situations of the North recognized in the legislation because we so often have situations where parents are, you know -- or grandparents or such are stepping in, aunties or uncles or a sister might take care of her children and her sister's children at the same time because she is already staying home, and I think that needs to be recognized, and I think that needs to be compensated for, particularly as this bill really -- or this $10 a day day care is really more for Yellowknife and regional centres. So that's a way I feel to make it more equitable to small community members to access this federal funding and to get some sort of relief when it comes to their own child care needs because just because they don't fit into the stereotypical day care or day home in Canada. Thank you, Madam Chair.