Assembly Vote
17th Assembly, 4th SessionOctober 31, 2013
Motion Sponsor
Topic
Motion Text
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. WHEREAS one of the goals of the 17th Assembly is
“healthy, educated people free from poverty;”
AND WHEREAS one of the priorities of the 17th Assembly is “supporting child care programs to help parents become or stay employed;”
AND WHEREAS the “$7 per day” daycare program in Quebec has been shown to decrease poverty by cutting in half the number of single parents on welfare and increasing their after-tax income by 81 percent in the first decade;
AND WHEREAS the child poverty rate in Quebec is now half of what it was before the “$7 per day” daycare program was started;
AND WHEREAS the universal daycare programs in Scandinavia have been shown to decrease poverty;
AND WHEREAS the “$7 per day” daycare program in Quebec has been shown to improve the life chances of women and the poor and to build a better quality labour force;
AND WHEREAS the “$7 per day” daycare program in Quebec increased the number of women in the workplace by 22 percent;
AND WHEREAS focusing on early childhood development and education from infancy to three years old has been shown to greatly increase a child’s chances of success in school and later in life;
AND WHEREAS the daycare programs in Quebec and Scandinavia are run by people who are trained in early childhood development and education;
AND WHEREAS poverty rates in the NWT are unacceptably high, with more than one-third of single-parent families living below the poverty line;
AND WHEREAS the current daycare system in the NWT does not provide enough spaces and is not affordable;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Sahtu, that within the next 12 months the Government of the Northwest Territories conduct a feasibility study on putting in place universal, affordable child daycare run by people trained in early childhood development and education, similar to the systems in Quebec and Scandinavia;
AND FURTHER, that the Government of the Northwest Territories provide a response to this motion within 120 days.