Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday I had the pleasure, if not honour certainly, to speak to the executive directors of the Centre for Northern Families daycare, the Montessori daycare, and the Yellowknife daycare as well, Mr. Speaker. Although I didn't get a chance to speak to the YWCA daycare, I still feel for their plight and their concerns will be in my statement as well.

Mr. Speaker, the ladies quite eloquently, and I'll say firmly and clearly, made it very clear their challenges of staying alive in the sense of a business are being impeded by the government-imposed wage grid. Now, the wage grid may have helped some but it doesn't help all, and what it does is it boxes these daycares, that are so necessary to help and flourish and nourish our young people, that the government is getting into the business of controlling these daycares. Now if you don't sign on, you can go at it alone, but that also comes with financial impediments and, if anything, it's perceived as there's no way to move forward if you don't. So in other words, they're boxed into a corner. If I was outside the House, I'd say ah, it's a threat of bureaucracy, but in the House, I'd say they're boxed into a corner.

Mr. Speaker, the frustrating part is they're imposed on the grid, and they can't do their business. But even worse on that is they're told you have to work within the constraints we've created. So what are the constraints? Low money but high control, okay. So the choice of them paying their employees properly comes to them, and the government's attitude is we'll just find money by fundraising.

Well, it might be easy to set up a lemonade stand and then get a hundred bucks by the end of the week, but when we're talking about thousands and thousands of dollars, Mr. Speaker, you just can't set up a lemonade stand or sell chocolates in every case.

Mr. Speaker, the government needs to step up. If it's going to get into the financial control -- or financially in bed with the day homes and daycares, they have to have the full picture and take responsibility. So what's left? These three daycares had told me that they are at financial risk by the summer. Again, controlled and created by the government. Mr. Speaker, this is frustrating. They cannot charge extra fees. They're told they're not allowed to. They have to find it from pennies from heaven. And when they sit there and tell me summer students are paid higher than the imposed wages, they ask themselves who is in charge and how are they really helping. Mr. Speaker, I'll have questions for the Minister later today about trying to fix, if not reverse this problem, and we can find a better way. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.