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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, of course we're willing to explore innovative solutions. I have not had a chance to look at the report the Member tabled. It seems like every week there is a report coming out on child care and I do get to them as they come out, but I haven't got to this one yet so I'll have a look at it and go from there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister for that. Mr. Speaker, the other thing that is currently on the go right now with ECE in regards to child care is determining a wage grid for child care workers. I'm wondering what standards are being used to determine the child care wage grid and will the standards be based on minimum wage, living wage, salaries currently paid to similarly educated ELCC providers based in schools; where is the starting point for this conversation? Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I believe just last week is when the department really went out and started working with child care providers to get a better understanding of the financial situation. Based on the feedback, the wage grid will be based on geographic location, current wages, roles, responsibilities, experience, post-secondary education, other education, and Indigenous knowledge. And as we develop it, there may be more factors to be taken into account. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, child care providers are concerned that given the GNWT cap adjustment in annual revenues that's in place and will also be -- and also -- sorry, that they're implementing these wage grids that they will not be able to meet the funding shortfalls that they might see, especially given the rising costs that we're seeing, whether it's through insurance, electricity, food costs. This has been highlighted multiple times in this House over the course of the implementation of the new child care subsidy structures. So how will ECE ensure that funding shortfalls do not close day cares in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So what the Member is talking about is an unacceptable situation where the, you know, implementation of a move towards universal child care will actually cause, you know, a collapse of the sector. So that is the primary thing that we don't want to happen and so we are working diligently to ensure that that doesn't happen. As part of the development of a new wage grid, we are also working on a new overall funding model. So as we work with centres, as we understand their revenues, their costs, their needs, we can put into place something that will ensure that the revenue they receive is more -- that allows them to be sustainable; it's more predictable. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the things that I'm hearing quite regularly is this concern over closed doors and there's such a struggle to get your name on a list, to get your child in a door to begin with, then to start potentially losing those spaces is very scary for parents. It means that they're not able to go to work, it means they're not able to pay their mortgage, it means they're not able to continue to live; they're not able to support themselves. And so in light of all these concerns and the threat of day cares potentially having to close their doors, what is ECE doing to communicate these viable solutions and the work that they're doing with both child care providers but also parents that are using this sector? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So as I stated, the department has gone out and has been working directly with child care providers. There's always ongoing discussions with the Early Childhood Association. On the website there is a lot of information for parents. We are trying to determine what the wait lists are. You know, a number of parents will put their names on a number of different wait lists. We don't really have a sense of, you know, how many duplicates there are so it's very unclear at this point. So we're trying to get to the bottom of that as well because we want to make sure that we know what the demand is so that we're better able to support it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of ECE. As I've been sitting here this morning, I've been getting messages from residents that people on income assistance being -- with payments for disabilities have not received their payment yet this week. It's my understanding there's been changes to the process and the form submissions, etcetera, and that has delayed the payment. Can the Minister speak to what is going on? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can look into this issue. I know just as MLA, I often get people in my office looking for their income assistance. We tell them to come to check at 1 o'clock. That's often when they come in, maybe a day later. But once the payments are issued, it can take one to three days for them to be processed by the bank. So it could be an issue with that but I will look into this immediately. And the department is listening right now as well, so I'm sure they're frantically looking into it and will send me some information. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad to hear that, and I do appreciate that the Minister is responsive. However, it's my understanding that this delay has been caused by changes to the disability payment and as such, people were submitting documents early this week. And so my question is why would we make changes that are then being done right before the next payment as people don't have their money in their accounts as of Friday and that makes me worry that children aren't going to have food, rents aren't going to be paid. You know, I can survive if I don't have money in my bank account; I have credit cards, I can go into debt, but many others don't have that option, and so can the Minister speak to what's going on there? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I'm not aware of any changes that were made at that operational level, and the staff are getting ready to make changes to the system as a whole as we introduce the new income assistance stream for seniors and persons with disabilities so that change should be happening in the next couple of months, few months. But as for a change that happened in the last couple weeks, I'm not aware of that but, as I said, I will look into this. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I literally have people telling me they were asked to submit new forms at the beginning of this week so I'm not sure what's going on here. And I do appreciate the Minister needs to look into this. Can the Minister tell us is this also affecting the seniors' payments? I know that sitting here a couple of my colleagues have also indicated to me they've had people reaching out they have not received their money this week. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So, again, I have to look into it; I don't have that information. But what I will say is that persons with disabilities and seniors, so people who we don't expect to -- you know, to go back into the workforce, they are often what's called payrolled. So they only have to submit their financial information once every three months, six months, every year perhaps. And so when you don't have to submit, you know, monthly, when it's every 12 months, you know, that could cause issues. People might not be, you know, as familiar with the process if they've only done it, you know, one or two times. So there could be issues with that as well, but I will look into it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do appreciate that this could just be a one-off but given that I'm hearing from my colleagues they are also getting emails of the same, I think this is a glitch or something is happening in the payment system. Can the Minister commit to ensuring that that money for those people is in their bank accounts by the end of the business day today? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, if the money is issued, that's one thing, but I can't control when it's processed through the banks. So if I could will it to happen, I would, but the Minister of Finance has also informed me that she has her staff looking into this to make sure it's not an issue on their end. So we're taking an all-of-government approach to deal with this issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier in my Member's statement I talked about what's going on in Fort Resolution, and it's a little bit disheartening to witness what's going on there and listen to the hamlet council and also to the deputy mayor. And I also want to just apologize for not getting these questions to the Minister of MACA sooner, but I -- but anyway, I just wanted to ask the question. MACA, in regards to how did MACA work to assist the community through its challenges since 2019 to implement the work plan with MACA before pulling the trigger about a month ago? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs.