Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Canada-NWT Canada-wide ELCC agreement requires that the GNWT implement a certification system and a wage grid for early childhood educators and also that it achieves the average $10 a day per childcare fees for families in the Northwest Territories. However, the agreement does not define specifics on how the GNWT is to implement the certification or wage grid. That's something that we were able to do here in the territory by meeting with our stakeholders.

The wage grid identifies an hourly minimum that an educator must receive but doesn't set out the maximum, and the regulations do not prevent them from going above that.

In regards to a contingency fund, the centre-based operators are allowed to maintain funds as long as the contingency fund does not exceed an amount equal to three months or more than three months of operating expenses, and that amount can also exceed those three months as long as the funds don't come from ECE. So, for example, if they are doing fundraising and events like that, they are able to keep that amount and it doesn't count towards their three-month maximum. And in addition to that, there is nothing in the regulations that prohibits a licensed centre-based operator from accessing alternative fundraising -- or sorry, alternative sources of funding like fundraising, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.