HALIFAX, THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2021

SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE ON SUPPLY

2:10 P.M.

CHAIR

Keith Bain

THE CHAIR: Order, please. The Subcommittee on Supply is called to order.

Today we continue discussion on Resolution E4. When we left off last night, the honourable member for Dartmouth South had 30 minutes left.

The honourable member for Dartmouth South.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have no technical difficulties, other than my difficulty navigating a computer.

We left off talking about child care and I would like to go back to that. I think the minister said yesterday that 100 per cent of four-year-olds have access to child care, and that would be a reference to pre-Primary. Can the minister confirm how many pre-Primary spaces there actually are in the province?

HON. DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Mr. Chair, through you to the honourable member, good to see you again. Feel free to mute whenever you wish. (Laughter)

To get the number of pre-Primary students this year that are enrolled, it was just over 6,100 that were enrolled this year in pre-Primary.

I think it’s important to recognize that regardless of the number, our system is set up for every four-year-old that wants to access pre-Primary, so there would be no concern on my end around space issues or support issues for those students. Particularly this year it’s just over 6,100 in pre-Primary.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: Thank you for that answer. Does the minister know what percentage of four-year-olds in the province that is?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: That percentage would represent over 75 per cent of our four-year-olds that are enrolled in the pre-Primary program. Now we expect that to grow because now we are fully implemented so we are in every school now, so we expect the number to grow. As well, COVID-19 would have an impact on enrolment, of course, with some students staying home. That 6,100 reflects over 75 per cent of our four-year-olds across the province.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: We heard the other day that the pre-Primary before and after program, which is funded by CCH - which is always a little bit mystifying to me, but that’s how the cookie crumbles - has 627 spaces across the entire province. So 6,100 kids enrolled, 627 spaces before and after.

We’ve always supported the pre-Primary program, but we have always disputed the claim that this program on its own puts women back to work because it’s a part-day program. We know there are very few women who work from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., or 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Are there plans for rapidly expanding that before and after school program?

[2:15 p.m.]

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: I apologize for the delay. I was just getting a couple of different pieces of information in regard to what we’re looking at for expansion.

As the member is probably aware, we started with eight sites back in January 2019 as a pilot. That jumped to 35 sites, then COVID-19 came upon us so this year it dropped down to 28. So there’s 28 active sites right now.

We are looking at expansion but as part of that conversation, there’s a couple of pieces. Busing is part of that because that was a concern that was brought up. We do have busing for pre-Primary, but there were some concerns raised from parents about access to transportation for the before and after school care. As well, this is something that the federal government has also signaled that they may be interested in doing, so we’re talking with them to ensure there are resources there as well.

To answer your question, we are looking at expansion - there’s just a couple of pieces we need to figure out first.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: I understand that parents would like transportation, but I don’t think that would be a barrier to them accessing after school care if it was available. It wouldn’t be for me.

I wonder if the department knows or tracks how many pre-Primary students are accessing before and after school care elsewhere and also, if the department knows how many four-year-olds are still in regulated daycare spots? I know just in my peer group but also in my constituency, there are a number of parents who have elected to give their kids regulated care because of the hours.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: We track the kids that are in the system in pre-Primary. We don’t keep all the data for four-year-olds that would be outside of the care.

I am confident in the number that I can provide, though, when we say that over 75 per cent of our four-year-olds are accessing pre-Primary programming that our government has implemented. I think it’s an important point to make that before pre-Primary, there was only 25 per cent of our four-year-olds across the province accessing early childhood education before school.

To answer your question - to the best of my knowledge, we don’t track any four-year-olds who would be outside the system. But we do know, based on statistics, that over 75 per cent of the four-year-olds across the province are accessing the program.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: I thank the minister for that answer. I want to ask about recruitment and retention of qualified early childhood educators. We know that this has been a long-term challenge. Again we raised this alarm when the government introduced pre-Primary and were told that the labour force had been thoroughly examined, everything was fine. But we know that the implementation of pre-Primary has really intensified worker shortages across the sector.

All ECEs in Nova Scotia have the same training and the same credentials, regardless of where they work, but most ECEs in licensed child care are paid less than their colleagues in pre-Primary. More importantly, to the ones that we speak with, they are without benefits. Not all, but most don’t have access to affordable health and dental.

We certainly have advocated and believe that extending benefits to these workers is the right thing to do. The ECEs who are employed by the provincial government - not just regulated by them - do have access to provincial government plans, but the rest don’t.

I wonder if there’s money in this budget somewhere that we didn’t see, to begin that rollout and if there has been any discussion about how to move forward on that.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Actually this is one of the subjects I am talking to the association about on the 26^th of this month. I’ve had a couple of conversations so far about it.

I think really one of the challenges here is that ECEs are employed by private providers so they are not employees of the government. I think this conversation is going to be part of a larger conversation when it comes to a universal system across the board.

At this point right now, of course we’re going to talk about it again on the 26^th. They’re working on some suggestions for me to look at. I look forward to meeting with them and I’m sure you and I will have a conversation after that meeting.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: Just a small correction to that, many are employed by non-profit providers. I think that’s an important distinction.

I think another thing that I suspect you’ll be discussing with them is pensions, because this is another question that we have heard often. I’m wondering if you’ve heard that question and if the department has put any thought into that issue.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: The sector has actually done a consultation so they are going to present us with the findings of that. I don’t have the exact date of when that is going to happen but I know that they’ve done it, and I look forward to getting the results of the consultation they provide.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: That sounds like a “not planning for it, but hoping to have a conversation”. Hopefully that will lead somewhere.

There are a few numbers we’re looking for. I’m wondering if the minister can provide us with the total number of trained ECEs in the province and the number of those working in the sector. Ideally a breakdown of how many are in licensed child care centres and how many are in pre-Primary would be helpful.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: As I’ve said before, there are 900 employees that are involved in employing the pre-Primary program, and then there’s 2,500 across the board in regulated child care, whether private or non-profit. That gives you a total of about 3,400 or 3,500.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: Can the minister confirm the number of trained ECEs in the province?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: I’ve got a bit of a list here. It’s not too big, but I think it gives you an idea of who is training now and some of the employees. I don’t have the exact number of how many trained ECEs are in the province but I think this will give you a little bit more information in regard to the 900 in pre-Primary and 500 in regulated child care. This goes into some of the instructions and some of the training that we’re doing with other ECEs in the province.

We have a level one pilot project that had three cohorts in the Spring of 2020, Winter 2020-21, and Spring 2020-21 - there were 311 that went though that program. Then there’s the Africentric ECE diploma and bursary, We had 26 students enrolled in that program who have received bursaries. We have recognition of prior learning assessments, so we’re training ECEs in the system, and there were 41 who successfully completed it. For the NSCC ECE training seat expansion, there were 200 additional seats available over two years - a total of 360 seats available over a three-year period - so we have students enrolled in those programs as well.

[2:30 p.m.]

The Mi’kmaw bursary - the Wagmatcook Learning Centre NSCC Strait Campus, two-year ECE diploma - we have 15 Mi’kmaw students funded to complete that program. These are some examples.

I’m happy to provide that information to you as well if you’d like so you can have it for your own records, plus that would give you a bit of an indication. I don’t have the exact number of the total of people in the province, but we’re always training and there’s a lot of demand and a lot of positivity towards the sector. People are really seeing it as a career path for them now.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: I appreciate that, and I’d love it if you could share or table those statistics.

When pre-Primary was introduced, the minister assured us that there had been a labour force analysis done and that there were plenty of ECEs in the workforce who could be accommodated in pre-Primary and could continue to work. That turns out not to have been the case.

For instance, in Dartmouth South we know when one of our two daycares that serve the downtown core closed recently or consolidated operations, they pointed to staffing as the reason. It has been extraordinarily difficult, so I’m really glad to see all those pilot programs. I’m glad to see the training happened.

I’m wondering if, from the minister’s staff, you can speak at all to this disconnect? How is it that we thought there were all these ECEs? Why did we think that and why weren’t they there, and how many do we feel like we need to train right now to accommodate the number of children we want to be accessing early learning?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: I think one of the important aspects of this - and I appreciate your advocacy on the Dartmouth closure. As we both know, it was in consolidation, so we were able to support the kids who were affected and the families in the community. I appreciate your advocacy for your community.

In regard to ECEs, what I can say at this point is that we have 3,500 in the system now, give or take, between pre-Primary and regulated child care. Just on the NSCC portion of training, right now we have 346 potential graduates this year and 259 potential graduates next year, so in the event that everybody completes their program, we’re 600 more ECEs in the system. There are lots of students who are taking the program. They see a career in it. I don’t see a shortage of ECEs and we’re not seeing a shortage across the province. It’s the opposite, actually - people really see it as a career opportunity.

That’s why we’ve continued to invest in training. That’s why we’ve continued to invest in expanding our seats in the communities that saw limited access. That’s why we continue to work with the sector, because they’re coming back with some concerns that they have addressed with their pay and some of the things they want to see. We’re going to continue to do it.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: I’m going to have to disagree with the minister pretty vehemently on almost every point there. I encourage the minister to take up this very issue when you meet with the association.

In regard to what happened in Dartmouth, it was a consolidation, but in the public communication around that consolidation they made it clear that they felt like the early child care sector was on the verge of a crisis - in their words - and that it was difficult for them to attract and retain qualified staff. A huge part of that has been pre-Primary, so again, I believe that the Province is now taking this seriously and I’m glad to see the education. I agree that people are now being attracted to the field in a different way, but I also think there is a real labour shortage.

To the second point, particularly around what happened in Dartmouth, we were grateful that the department provided a phone number and a contact, but my understanding from speaking to dozens of parents is that the service provided was essentially a numeration of other daycares in Dartmouth that people could call. It wasn’t anything that people couldn’t discover on their own. It wasn’t opening up new daycare spots.

Most families have found alternate child care arrangements, and I would say that many of those child care arrangements are not within their community, are not - I mean, it depends on how you define “community.” Many of the families that accessed this daycare centre were families without a vehicle or with a single vehicle, who would walk or cycle. It’s a densely-populated urban neighbourhood. This was a centre that served that neighbourhood for almost 30 years, so it has been a gigantic loss to our community.

Our only other daycare centre in the urban core has lost its lease because of what’s going on with property values, particularly in Dartmouth South. Their building is being sold and we are very hopeful that they will find a new location, but that is by no means assured.

All of which is to say that the staffing issue is real. I really hope that the department continues to pay attention to this, to advocate with Labour and Advanced Education to connect with their partners to solve that problem.

My last question in my last minute or so is: Could the minister provide us with the total number of licensed child care spaces in the province today and how that compares to the number we had a year ago?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. How much time do I have left in in this round?

THE CHAIR: We’re all through this round. The time has expired.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Sorry, I’ll answer your question in the next round.

THE CHAIR: Okay, she’ll have the opportunity because we’ll be coming back.

The honourable member for Truro-Bible Hill-Millbrook-Salmon River.

DAVE RITCEY: Thank you, minister, for taking the time to answer our questions. My first question has to do with the dissolution or dissolving of school boards and the increased costs that are associated with those decisions that happened. The department condensed the school boards, but it seems like the costs to operate the school boards have increased significantly.

I’m curious as to why that is and what the future holds. Does this department or government have any intention of implementing the school boards back?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: I’ll first say congratulations to the member. I know you and I haven’t had a chance to really have a chat since you were elected, so congratulations to you and to your family. Your family’s a big part of the journey with you. I kind of followed you on social media a little bit, so as we get more comfortable with one another, I’ll continue to treat you like I treat Mr. Chair there, for Victoria-The Lakes, and his hockey favourites.

Let’s talk about the school centres for a start. We’re steadfast in the decision that we made. I can say that from the community that I represent, the second-largest municipality in the province, the core, Sydney, we made the decision. People understood why we made it and people have accepted it.

I can say from a perspective of what we’ve dealt with in the last year with the pandemic, the system we have in place - it has worked very well. We are one of a few jurisdictions where our kids remained in class where they belong, to receive the in-class support from our wonderful teachers and staff and access the many important programs, whether it’s SchoolsPlus or other supports to support inclusion.

I believe in the system. I believe in the decision that we made. We have a strong relationship with our regional centres when it comes to the requests that they have. Parents have access to a system where they can meet with regional representatives that in turn can deal with the centre if there’s a concern that they have or a support that they need for their kids. I support that process.

In the budget, what you are really seeing there is a reflection of the investments that we have made as a government, that you are seeing in all of the regional centres. As I’ve said, we’ve made $60 million in inclusion supports, so that’s additional supports for autism specialists, speech language pathologists, and school psychologists. That is support for Reading Recovery. That is support for our pre-Primary program, with an additional 900 employees who are now in the system.

Really what you’re seeing there is a reflection of all the investments we’ve made since 2013, which represent a 43 per cent increase in the budget. That’s also a reflection of over 1,000 new teachers who we’ve hired into the system in communities across the province. We capped classes as well.

All of these things would be reflected in that budget. You are also probably seeing some numbers in there regarding our continued efforts to battle the pandemic, to make sure that the supports are there for the regional centres, that they have the flexibility to make some moves that they need to make to support PPE or cleaning or the other supports. That’s why you would be seeing bigger (Inaudible) in the increase.

[2:45 p.m.]

DAVE RITCEY: Thank you, minister, for answering that question. That leads me into my next question. The Province allocated $5.5 million between the regional centres during COVID-19 to eliminate rental fees to gymnasiums.

We are happy and excited. For example, my daughter played in the minor basketball association for the first time and she has thoroughly enjoyed it. For her, it was only one time a week, due to the cleaning schedules and the ability to staff.

To go back to the $5.5 million to the regional centres, I’m just wondering - I guess my question is - was that $5.5 million allocated to the regional centres? If it was allocated, can you go through the breakdown to the different regional centres? Would that be possible

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: I play basketball, or try to play basketball, on Tuesday nights with a bunch of guys my age. The minute I became the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development, I had 14 new protesters trying to get me to look at ways so that we can get more access to the gyms.

I can tell you that in regard to the $5.5 million, it’s not divvied up between the centres. So we would go to the centres and ask them: What do you anticipate are going to be your costs for cleaning, for all the essentials necessary to open those gyms? We went through that process. We have the cash here. We’ll reconcile with them at the end of the year.

What we ran into is, we went through this process where we were trying to open up gyms and then COVID-19 restrictions changed. As we know, we kind of pulled back a bit on that. It’s not an easy decision to make, but most important for all of us is to ensure that our kids are in class and that we keep that environment as safe as possible.

I know that’s hard for families that want to access our facilities. I have two young daughters. Everybody is feeling that, but ultimately as one of the only jurisdictions in North America that has been able to keep our kids in school to receive in-class teaching, to have those supports available to them while they are in school has always been priority one. That has been the foundation that the whole system has been built on.

So the $5.5 million is there. We’ve done some budgeting with the centres. We’ll work with them, accordingly, depending on what they need by the end of the year.

DAVE RITCEY: Thank you again to the minister for providing that feedback. I don’t play basketball. I play a little hockey and I know the same feeling. The hockey rinks were wide open.

When I was speaking with the regional centre, just to provide you with a little feedback about the situation, the concern from the local basketball association - they talked about an in-depth cleaning at stadiums and arenas. What I’ve seen personally, anyway, and crossed our fingers the whole year - we got through it, but I don’t think that standard was there. However, I did ask the local regional director. The cleaning process was roughly 90 minutes, so that sort of blocked out a lot of opportunity for these kids to participate in sport, to help them with their minds and bodies - to really encourage that activity and be active.

Truly, when I asked for the cleaning schedule - asked for the opportunity, I guess, to understand what the standard really is - it wasn’t clear. It’s 90 minutes to clean a gym - they go in one door and out the other, they’re touching basketballs. I know this is getting into a Health and Wellness question, but more so: Why was that standard 90 minutes throughout the school system, and that same standard wasn’t out in the community facilities?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: I’ll start off by saying it has been a journey for everyone in the system. I think sometimes in the conversation, when we talk about all the heroes of our education system when it comes to ensuring that our kids are in class, that all the supports are there for them to receive. Our cleaning staff, our bus drivers, and our other managerial, whether it’s administrative or other support staff, need to be part of that conversation. They kept the schools open to the best of their ability.

The regional centres really kind of drive the process when it comes to ensuring people get into the schools and keep them clean. Again, really I think it’s important to note that as tough as it has been not having our community facilities open for an extended period of time - how important they are to the community is not lost on me at all, as somebody who uses them regularly - we are one of very few jurisdictions that has kept our kids in class. That has been the foundation of everything. The IWK, our stakeholders across the province, stakeholders nationally and internationally, have all said that during the pandemic, what we have done in Nova Scotia to keep our kids in school was needed, it was necessary. I’m sure you don’t disagree.

I think it’s going to be a work in progress until we get past the point where we can just open up again. We have to be flexible enough that we can open our facilities when we feel it’s safe but also shut them down when we need to shut them down.

Really the biggest thing is to continue to ask the community for support and love and compassion and patience as we get vaccinated, and to look after one another as we have done through the whole pandemic.

Our facilities will get back to normal. There are people working extremely hard to ensure that we can provide what we can provide in the community. They’ll continue to have support from me and they’ll continue to have support from the department.

DAVE RITCEY: Thank you again to the minister. I have really one last question for you to keep you on your hot seat. The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development announced $15 million this past year and talked, I believe last night, regarding investing additional dollars for more inclusive education supports for students, which includes hiring a number of EAs.

I guess my question is: Could you clarify or provide an update on where the $15 million was allocated? I’d appreciate that.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: I’ll give you a little breakdown of what we’re spending the money on. In 2020-21, we hired an additional 100-plus staff in various aspects of inclusive education. Whether it’s speech language support, whether it’s autism support, or whether it’s through our anti-racism, anti-discrimination work that we’re doing with both students and staff, there’s a pretty significant list when it comes to what we’re investing in. That was 2020-21.

Gearing up for 2021-22, we’re hiring an additional 250 staff to help support inclusive education across the province, so that would be across all centres. Again, that would include a number of aspects in working with our regional centres for the supports they need for students in the system.

DAVE RITCEY: Thank you, minister, for being open in those comments. I appreciate it.

I am now going to pass it over to my colleague the member for Pictou West.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you. It’s an honour. I appreciate it.

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Pictou West.

KARLA MACFARLANE: Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you for allowing me to have this opportunity to ask a few questions.

My first question through you to the minister is around water safety within our school system. In particular, I would like to know, what has been done in recent years? It was a huge issue - well, it always has been. I recall bringing this issue to the past Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development in 2019 and indicating that there were a lot of changes going to be happening and that there would be regular testing.

As I speak here today, one school in Pictou West, Scotsburn Elementary School, is now over a decade of having lead in their water - a neurotoxin that basically poses serious health risks to young developing brains. This is an elementary school, so it’s very worrisome for parents and teachers. I’m hoping you can provide an update and status on that school in particular, but as well, what is the plan to be testing schools throughout this province for lead and different chemicals?

[3:00 p.m.]

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Mr. Chair, through you to the member, it’s good to see you. We haven’t had a chance to have a conversation in a while, so I look forward to the discussion we’re having today.

With every school there is safe drinking water and we ensure it for our students. I want to make that important point to everyone who is with us and watching. We are installing the stations in the schools so the first step for us particularly, we’ll use the school that you’re talking about - it’s the same story for every school - we’re installing the touchless water stations. Once we do that then we will run some more tests. The Regional Centre for Education will test again to determine that we have corrected the situation. If not, then we look at what additional remediation steps we need to take to ensure that we can correct the situation.

So, that’s the process that we go through. A school will have the touchless water stations, we’ll do, the Regional Centre will do some more tests and then we’ll ensure the water needs are met.

KARLA MACFARLANE: So again, this has been over a decade for Scotsburn Elementary and still no resolution.

I won’t belabour it, but I do want it to be on your radar. It’s time that this school gets fixed; it’s time that parents and teachers and students do not have to worry. I do believe that safe measures were taken to supply them with safe drinking water but it’s not good enough and it’s not acceptable. The school is going to be there for a long time, it’s a community that has a good population and that’s going to ensure that the school remains open, so it’s concerning.

Again, I just ask that you put this on your radar as a priority. It’s unfair to the schools that have gone this long without safe drinking water. I guess just a yes or no answer: Is it mandated through your department now that lead testing, like in other provinces, like Ontario and Alberta, actually mandate lead testing at schools?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Yes, we do. We direct the centres to do it.

KARLA MACFARANE: Thank you and I thank the minister for that answer.

Moving right along to policing in schools. Something that I, it’s just my personal opinion, is every high school, I would say almost every high school - I know there’s the odd high school, even in Cape Breton, I’m not sure if it’s actually in the Chair’s constituency or not, where there’s three or four students - I believe that in our high schools we should have a full-time police officer. This was something that was started years ago, and I think it’s SSRO - a School Safety Resource Officer - it’s part of the additional officer’s program which is funded by the province. I realize, and you will clarify for me please, minister, I’m assuming that it’s funded through the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development or possibly the Department of Justice. The issue I have is that Northumberland Regional High school here in Pictou West, it’s a very large school, we have close to 1,000 students, from Grade 9 to Grade 12. This is a school where I have spoken to the principal many times, there’s heavy drug use, use of ice, which is a form of meth. It’s getting out of control.

We lost, due to no fault of the individual, but we did lose our safety resource officer when school started this September due to their involvement in the mass shooting. We have not received a position yet for someone to fill that position and it is really making an unsafe environment at the school and causing much undue stress to teachers and the principal. What can you share with me on that status?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: An absolutely valid and important question. It’s something that we want to ensure that we’re doing everything we can to support kids and help them to understand some of the dangers that they may face, and some of the supports that are there for them to access while they are in school and in the community.

In regard to the police in schools, you are right, Boots on the Street is where it’s funded. I remember when that was implemented, I think it was back in 2008 or so now. So, the program has been around for a while; the Department of Justice runs it, so we don’t have any say over that and where the officers go. The Regional Centres for Education really work with local law enforcement agencies and the Department of Justice to determine, they make the decisions on where they will go.

What I will commit to the member is we’ll do a follow-up for you with the regional centre and then we can get back to you, just to determine how the decision was, to determine where officers will be.

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Pictou West. If you could ask the question and then when we come back from our COVID-19 break the minister can answer you. You have enough time to ask your question.

KARLA MACFARLANE: Okay, thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I actually didn’t hear the last part of his answer, it got a little blurry there so if you could just reconfirm what it is you are going to get for me as information, that would be great.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: We’re going to follow up with the Regional Centre for Education for you, just to determine how the decision making was made. It’s the Regional Centre for Education that will make the decision with local police agencies and the Department of Justice to determine where those resources are, so we’ll do a follow-up for you.

THE CHAIR: Good timing. We’ll now take our 15-minute COVID-19 break. We’ll be back at 3:25 p.m. and the PC caucus will have the first half hour of that time period.

[3:10 p.m. The subcommittee recessed.]

[3:25 p.m. The subcommittee reconvened.]

THE CHAIR: Order, please. The Subcommittee on Supply resumes. We’ll go now to the honourable member for Pictou West. You have 30 minutes in this round.

KARLA MACFARLANE: Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the time that I’ve been offered, and I’ll just finish up.

I have just one question left. It is regarding outdoor alternative schools. My colleague and I wrote to the department back in the Fall to basically secure a meeting with a constituent of mine who is a teacher and a businessman; he put together a very well-detailed, comprehensive plan on starting an outdoor school as an alternative school. We never heard back. We were really disappointed. We had asked for a meeting, even just an acknowledgement, but we never received one.

This individual has gone through a lot of work, is actually starting it on his own - has received a lot of interest - it’s amazing. I think that given the circumstances of this modern world that we’re living in and how things are changing so quickly for our youth, I think we just have to face it that school is just not meant for everyone. It’s not everyone’s cut of tea and there have to be other options.

I know that parents have spoken to me that they will be seeking out these other options, where their children will be ensured less time on screens and phones and computers and more time in nature, but still learning the basics.

I’m wondering, first of all, if the minister will agree to meet with myself and my colleague from Dartmouth East, to meet with this gentleman who has put this incredible plan together. I can guarantee you, you will be most interested in it.

First of all, I’m looking for a guarantee that you or your deputy minister will at least sit down with us and, just maybe an explanation of your thoughts on such an alternative school.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Yes, I’ll make that commitment. I know staff have been engaged, just at a staff level, so we’ll work it out with the member and determine what needs to happen for the meeting to take place. We’re happy to meet with stakeholders who come forward with any ideas, and I am as well. It’s for kids and making sure we do whatever we can to support our kids. We’re always interested, I’m always interested in hearing feedback and getting ideas so we’ll set that up.

Just on the idea of outdoor learning overall; it’s really kind of one of the things that came out of COVID-19 for a lot of us. It’s the ability to have extra space, to give students more of that opportunity outside of the classroom setting, but also under the umbrella of the supports that schools offer to our students and families every day.

We’ll set that up as quick as we can, and I look forward to meeting with your stakeholder in your community.

KARLA MACFARLANE: Thank you very much. Just one last question before I turn it over to my colleague. I’m just curious, children in Canada, the stat is really on Canadian kids, but I would say that kids in Nova Scotia are amongst this average of 7.5 hours in front of screens each day. I’m wondering if the department actually has a breakdown of the different grades, and how many hours each grade would be on a computer or phone, as part of their learning education. I’m just wondering if there’s any way we can get those stats.

[3:30 p.m.]

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: The amount of time that a student would have using a technology device, whether it is a tablet or phone, really the teacher in the classroom determines that, how much that would be used.

Now mind you, technology has played a huge benefit in our system with assistive technology for students that need support, so it has been very important. I know that in my own experience with my wife - she is a learning centre teacher at a local high school - she uses assistive technology with her students, which has been a huge help for them in communicating with her and with her peers and helping support them on their education journey. So, there’re lots of positives when it comes to technology. We don’t measure it as a department but the teachers, really, it’s at their discretion.

I will say that fortunately for us, as a province, the last year technology has been important. Last year, with the purchase that we had to make to support learning at home as a result of schools closing - we were fortunate this year that our schools remained open - so our students had lots of access to more traditional teaching with bonded use of technology.

KARLA MACFALANE: Thanks so much and thanks for those comments. I will say there are absolutely lots of benefits but there’s no denying that there arre lots of disadvantages. We’re starting to see proof of that; we’re starting to see studies of how damaging it actually is.

We could go on and on, this is a whole different conversation, so right now I want to thank you, minister, for your answers. I look forward to following up on a visit and I will pass it over to my colleague from Cole Harbour-Eastern Passage.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: And just to follow up, Mr. Chair, on the comments of the member for Pictou West, this is a big conversation that we’re having with our stakeholders now, what the classroom and the system looks like post-COVID-19.

One of the things we learned, I mentioned one of the aspects around outdoor learning is something that is very interesting to me - giving students, as you said, technology has its benefits - we also know that getting outdoors has its benefits, too, as well.

There’s a great project in Marion Bridge where there was an outdoor classroom that was designed with the support of the Mi'kmaw community; it’s absolutely spectacular. I really think that’s one of the things that’s going to come out of this for all of us. Our teachers have been amazing to do what they’ve done, but we all know that there are things we’re going to learn through the pandemic. Time will tell. Thanks.

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Cole Harbour-Eastern Passage.

BARBARA ADAMS: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to start off by saying that I am very excited to have this opportunity to speak with you about this. The very first experience I had as an MLA was a discussion around Cole Harbour District High School versus Island View High School, and what might be happening with the future of Cole Harbour High.

Of course, at the time when Island View High opened it took a lot of students out of Cole Harbour High, so there were some major concerns from the people in Cole Harbour that the school might close down.

I’m just wondering, four years later, if the minister can tell me what the plans are for Cole Harbour High School?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: I am looking forward to the conversation that you and I are going to have. I’m always happy to hear from my colleagues about some of the things that they think are good and some of the challenges that they’ve seen, particularly with Cole Harbour High.

There’s a future for Cole Harbour High, we all see that. We’ve made a number of investments in the school when it comes to infrastructure. A couple of important points to note is that that’s one of the schools where we have the Technology Advantage Program. They offer the IBM diploma too, as well, through the P-TECH Program and they have the skilled trade centre. So for me, looking at some of the characteristics of the school, some of the things that I want to try to implement, especially around skilled trades as we move into new technologies and renewable energy and stuff, there’s a big future in the school. I hope that answers your question.

BARBARA ADAMS: Thank you very much. Can I just follow up: Does that mean that you can confirm for my constituents that there is no plan to shut down the school as the high school, over the next four years?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Yes, I’ll confirm that.

BARBARA ADAMS: Thank you very much, I’m ecstatic. Speaking of the IB and skilled trades program, it is offered at Cole Harbour, it is an excellent program; Auburn also has the automotive.

Island View High School has no skilled trades or the IB program. I understand that you can’t have it everywhere but the problem we’ve had that I’ve been talking to the former minister about is that there is no busing from Eastern Passage to Cole Harbour.

I am working with city councillors and have been for the last four years, to try to get a bus connection between Cole Harbour and Eastern Passage. But, as I mentioned to the former minister, to get on the bus in Eastern Passage, go to downtown Dartmouth, then get another bus and go all the way out Cole Harbour road to Cole Harbour High School is an hour and a half, one-way. So there are students who can’t access that program, even though in the first year that they did have courtesy busing - the very first year that Island View opened - but following that, any student from Eastern Passage or Cow Bay that goes to Cole Harbour High has no bus service.

I’m just wondering if the minister would consider meeting with me and the principal from Island View High School, just to discuss the busing concerns - along with the principal from Cole Harbour High School - in terms of what needs to be available on an equitable basis between the students that live in Cole Harbour and the students that live in the Eastern Passage-Shearwater-Cow Bay area?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: This is a conversation her and I are going to have again, just because I think there’s a little bit of back and forth and I want to add just a couple of questions about some of your previous meetings that you may have had. I think the first step I am going to take is just do a little bit of homework myself. I’ll meet with the Regional Centre for Education, have a conversation with them. I think there are some catchment area concerns that are involved with the bus route.

What I’ll say right now is I’ll do a follow-up with you, away from Estimates, so you and I can have a conversation, but just let me do a little bit of homework here on my end, on your behalf.

BARBARA ADAMS: That’s great, I appreciate that. One of the other concerns that has come forward from some Grade 9 students actually, at Island View High School, was their concern about the mental well-being of the students. We had a meeting because they wanted to know about what was available in our community which, of course, we all know that we have no family doctor, no collaborative health centre, no mental health services.

Just for the minister’s reference, the three downtown Dartmouth clinics that you could go to for mental health care were easily accessible by Eastern Passage, straight line bus right to them. Now we’ve got it moved out to Cole Harbour, ironically within a stone’s throw of the Cole Harbour mental health clinic, so it is now less accessible than it used to be. The students are concerned that because of COVID-19 closing down, that there haven’t been enough mental health services in their community, right in the school.

I’m just wondering what the minister’s thoughts are on expanding the current mental health services directly in the high schools right at the moment. What’s your plan?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: There’s a piece of that which is through the Department of Health and Wellness. I’d like to go back and look at the catchment area for access to a family doctor because I do believe that the community does have a high attachment, which is great. We’re always striving in communities across Nova Scotia to recruit and retain our medical professionals, particularly on the education side of things with the schools.

So, there is access to a school bus there, which gives students access to mental health clinicians, school psychologists and there is a school councillor there. If students, or you, for that matter, if you need to talk to anybody, they are there for the students. We want to make sure that the students are aware of that. So it’s the Grade 9s in particular you were talking to about this, so maybe what we can do is just make sure that the school is aware that you asked this question, that you were talking to the Grade 9s, and that they are aware of the services and supports that are there, not only for them but for all the students.

BARBARA ADAMS: Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the minister for the answer. As you all know, we do have a high attachment rate right now because I got us a clinical nurse practitioner. That is not a collaborative health centre and that does not come with any mental health services, so we still need to work on that piece.

I do want to go back to the Grade 9 students, the two that approached me, they were speaking with me both about regular mental health needs, triggered by being a youth, as well as those triggered by COVID-19. But they also wanted to raise issues related to racism, transgender population. The students themselves, when I challenged them on what it was that they were looking for that wasn’t already offered, they did their own survey of a certain population of their students and came back to me and presented those stats to me.

The Island View High School Enhancement Committee, which I serve on, with former MLA and now city Councillor Becky Kent, former MLA Kevin Deveaux, and others, we actually put in a grant application that wasn’t accepted because the non-profit group that we work with actually weren’t eligible. But when we spoke to the Kids Help Phone and Mental Health Services of Nova Scotia they said wow, this is a really unique idea, we think that this program you were talking about wanting to do is something that might be useful.

[3:45 p.m.]

I’m wondering if the minister, or one of his staff, would be willing to meet virtually with the students so they could share with you their perspective. They are a very unique stakeholder and extremely well spoken. I just think it would be an opportunity to engage the Grade 9s in a way that we haven’t done in the past.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Absolutely, any time I can assure the member this and all members of the House, that any time a student has an idea that they want to bring forward or a concern that they have, that we will be there. I will be there to support their advocacy for something and to make sure that we hear them out.

We do have a Youth Project that we fund through the department. We will ensure that we have staff meet with those two Grade 9 students to ensure that their voice is heard. We’ll make sure that happens.

BARBARA ADAMS: Thank you very much, they will be very happy to hear that.

We have a Diversity and Inclusion Committee in my community to try to improve the sense of value and recognition of the diversity of the members of our community. One of the things that we looked at was how much education there was in each of the courses, in each of the grades, from Primary to Grade 12. One of the things that stood out was that there wasn’t really anything offered in Grade 10 or Grade 12 and there were only two courses offered in Grade 11. It seemed that it was all weighted-on in the early years, which of course is great, but it seemed that it really petered out in those final years.

I’m just wondering if you are aware of that or if you thought there might be an opportunity here to expand what is offered in the higher grades.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: A great question, an important question, one that is an evolving conversation for not only education but really for communities across the province.

You are correct in saying that some of the courses are embedded in particular grades that are very specific. You referenced Grades 10 and 12; now we don’t have specific courses in that but a lot of our subjects within that, it’s embedded - I know I use Canadian history as one of them - it’s not completely, directly engaged in the diversity conversation but there’s a number of courses that it really stretches across.

What I want to let the member know is that we are actually going through a review right now to determine what else we want to offer to our students in regard to ensuring that we’re doing everything we can to support and educate diversity in our classrooms. We’re making some significant investments when it comes to, not only our students, but ensuring they have leadership modules for our staff, too, within our schools to help support them as they continue the very important conversation about diversity in our classrooms and our students in our communities.

BARBARA ADAMS: Great, thank you very much. I’d like to now turn my time over to the member for Northside-Westmount.

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Northside-Westmount.

MURRAY RYAN: A couple of questions for the minister. Thank you, Mr. Chair. The first question I have for the minister is in relation to busing. I’m wondering what policies are laid out by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development for students who live outside of their catchment area?

Specifically, I have one constituent, they have a child and, for several reasons, they didn’t want their child to attend the school that was in their catchment area because it was too large and would have been too challenging for their child’s learning; it just wasn’t a proper environment. They ended up, they’re driving about an hour and 15 minutes one way in the morning and in the late afternoon; they are going back to that school, in the Grand Narrows area, to pick up their child.

They approached the Regional Centre for Education in the Fall, related to - they religiously park along the side of the road, at a point in time where the buses picked up to deliver to that school and that was not deemed a workable solution, from the Centre for Education.

I was just curious if the minister could shed some light on the policies surrounding this.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: I appreciate the conversation. I know there are a few members who have these situations that arise when it comes to busing.

What I can say at this point is these decisions are really driven by the Regional Centre. There are some rules and regulations around catchment areas and students coming from outside catchment areas. This is one, again, that I am happy to have a chat with the member later on, to get a little more information, but ultimately these go through the centre and that’s where the decision is made. They make all the decisions around busing.

MURRAY RYAN: I thank the minister for the answer. I will connect with the minister later on that matter.

My follow-up area of interest is the new middle school for Northside. The minister is nodding his head, so I assume he knew that I’d be coming.

Back in 2016, what was Thompson Junior High and then became Thompson Middle School, was closed and they announced that those students would be bused to Sydney Mines. Now last year, the middle school appeared on the capital budget plan, it’s there again this year; it’s about three to four years out.

By the point in time that I think the capital budget of 2024-25, by that point in time if the school is indeed ready by then, that will be nine years from the initial closure of Thompson Middle School and the students being bused.

At this point there has been very little information in the community as far as we don’t know where the project is at. Sure, okay, it’s in the capital budget, that’s great, but we don’t know where it is in the development process. Has a site been selected? Has a design been selected? What is the site? When is the government realistically going to start breaking ground on this? I look forward to what the minister’s information is.

THE CHAIR: Order please, the minister will have to give it to you after 5:10 p.m. because the time for PC caucus is up. We’ll go now, before a break, to the NDP caucus.

The honourable member for Dartmouth South.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: Thank you. I’d like to yield my time to the member for Halifax Needham.

LISA ROBERTS: Thank you very much for the opportunity. I’d like to ask a couple of questions about the CSAP, the provincial Acadian School Board. Building a new CSAP school on the Halifax peninsula was included in the 2019-20 capital plan. The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development’s multiple-year capital plan for 2020-25 includes two HRM locations under the heading of New Schools: École secondaire Mosaïque, and a Halifax peninsula elementary school. Can the minister provide just some more detail about what is planned?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: It’s good to see the member. Usually we were talking about all things energy and mines so it’s nice to talk about education. I just want to say, I’ll give you a bit of an update. So TIR is in the process of looking at sites, which is a bit of a challenge when you are in the peninsula. We want to make sure we, that land is at a premium here, really, so that process is ongoing.

Once that is gone, we will release a request for a design. That is going to be in 2021-22, so it will be this year. At that point we will be receiving feedback from the community.

Right now, we’re just waiting for the report from Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal so we can get to the RFP process so we can get to talk to the community and look at the design we’ll build.

LISA ROBERTS: Thanks very much. In September 2019, we learned that the government would buy and renovate Newbridge Academy for $28 million and turn it into a high school for the CSAP. Part of the deal the government made with the building owner, Donald MacDonald, was that his company, DORA Construction, would be given a $10 million contract to complete renovations on the building.

While we fully recognize the need to make investments to address increasing enrolment within the CSAP, it is odd, given the announced process, the discussed, kind of the government’s choice of process around releasing five-year capital plans because it wasn’t on the five-year capital plan at that time but it is now included in the capital plan as a new school.

I don’t know, anything you want to say about kind of adding an additional new school sort of after the fact, rather than having it on the five-year capital plan sort of looking into the future?

[4:00 p.m.]

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sorry for the delay, through you to the member. I’m getting a bit of a history lesson here as I try to answer your question.

There was the initial plan to do P to 12 on the peninsula and really looking at the premium of land - land being at a premium, sorry - it has been a bit of a challenge. TIR is doing the work, looking at potential sites. So CSAP actually approached the government with a new suggestion of building a P to 8 on the peninsula and then using the school over in Dartmouth, which is open now, as the Grade 9 to 12. It has been a great working relationship with CSAP. Of course, we see the importance for the CSAP students in the community to get that in school. I’m going to do whatever I can to make sure we can get it over the finish line.

LISA ROBERTS: I wonder if we might anticipate other additions to the capital plan or alterations to the capital plan in the future, when other possibilities arise.

If you want to comment on that, great. If not, we’ll leave it for now.

The CSAP currently leases a building which houses École Mer et Monde in the south end of Halifax. Are there limitations on how long that property will be available to CSAP? Second, sort of corollary to that, if a new school is being constructed on the peninsula, is it anticipated that it would be on that site? In which case, are there plans for where students would go while the new school is being constructed?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you to the member, as I said, there’s a commitment for a new school on the peninsula. I want to do whatever I can, as the minister, to support that.

A lot of the work still falls under the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal, so they are going through the process.

I think the biggest message I want to leave with you and to your members and to the families and the students is that as we go through the transition from where they are now to whatever that new building will be, to completely minimize any disruption to them in their learning environment, moving forward.

I am very cognizant of the fact that when you get into these situations you don’t want to disrupt their learning environment. We’re going to do whatever we can to support them along the line.

LISA ROBERTS: Okay. I’m going to move on with some questions about school food, which I think we’re supportive of and pleased to see mentioned in your mandate letter.

Where in the budget would we find investments in school food programs - school breakfast programs or lunch programs? Can the minister provide the amount of that investment, as well as how it is allocated?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the member for her patience, as I got some information for her in regard to some numbers.

Annually, there’s $1.7 million that we provide for food within our schools. We actually give that money to Health and Wellness, so Health and Wellness plays a part in distributing the funds, so that schools can use that for breakfast, healthy snacks, lunches - it’s at their discretion. I know that snacks are provided in some of the younger grades as well.

I know from my own experience, with families in the community, that that money has been used through various points of the day, so there’s that side of it.

During the pandemic we actually added additional funds to that program, which was $500,000. During the shutdown of school, we actually were still supporting families with food. We were delivering food, in some cases, to families across the province, to ensure that the kids were still receiving that support, even though schools were closed.

It has been part of my mandate letter, so I’m actually excited about it. I think there’s an opportunity for us to use more local food within our schools, to support local entrepreneurs across the province. That’s going to be one of the things I’m going to be looking at as part of my mandate.

LISA ROBERTS: I hope that the department will reach out to some of the great local leaders who have really pioneered school food programs. I know both in the Valley and on the South Shore there have great initiatives, at least one of which was kind of sidelined during COVID-19.

Just to clarify, does the department have staff to support the delivery of school food programs?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you to the member, I just want to start by thanking all the volunteers who have been part of the partnerships that we have formed with the department. The Department of Health and Wellness is a big partner with us. Nourish Nova Scotia is a big partner with us. They were huge assets during the pandemic to make sure that we were getting food to our students. We continue to partner with them.

Really, that’s an overall view of the network that we use as a department to get support to the students. Of course, as you know, that’s based on an army of volunteers that really stepped up and continue to step up every day to make sure that if we’re running a program in the school - there are lots of volunteers in the past who have taken up the challenge to do that and help our kids, and they continue to do it. I think that answers your question.

LISA ROBERTS: I want to scroll back through that answer to see if it answered my question about whether there were staff. You talked about Nourish, you talked about - maybe you did.

I’m just going to move on to my next question: How many schools in Nova Scotia have food banks? How are they supported by the government? Do they rely mostly on charitable donations to operate? Does the department have any data on the number of students who access school food banks?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: I have some statistics from the education standpoint. I don’t have the statistics around how many students would be accessing food banks, but I can tell you that last year, in 2019-20, 6.3 million breakfasts were served in the system to students. We offer it everywhere. We’re not singling anybody out. It covers everyone. So 6.3 million breakfasts - 94 per cent of our schools are offering a breakfast program and 91 per cent of those are operating five days a week. That’s from our statistics of the programs that we offer within the schools to our students.

Now, as you know and all of our members would know, there are some amazing organizations that also provide food options for our students. I look at the Whitney Pier Boys and Girls Club as one of them where they provide - they receive funding from various departments, where they’re providing meals to students throughout the day. It’s a great organization. I used Cape Breton as an example because that’s where I’m from. In Glace Bay as well, there’s a food bank there and they’re supporting students as well.

So there are a number of departments that are involved with funding, but particularly the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. Those numbers are probably the strongest numbers I can tell you right now. It’s a significant number, 6.3 million meals, but it’s a number that we’re going to continue to support and most likely grow as we look at other options for our students.

[4:15 p.m.]

LISA ROBERTS: Thank you for that information. I want to move on to inclusion. The government business plan says, “We will continue to implement the recommendations from the Commission on Inclusive Education to create an education system for all students.” This year there is another $15 million allocated for implementing recommendations from the commission. However, we still have not seen any plan for how the government is addressing the findings of the commission.

Can the minister identify the specific recommendations that the department will be addressing with this budget?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you to the member, there are a number of investments that we’re making based on the conversations that we had around the report, but also the feedback that we’re receiving from educators across the province, from our health care partners with the IWK and the Department of Health and Wellness, and with stakeholders within the community that look at issues of racism and discrimination.

A lot of our funding this year is built around that. You’re looking at another 250 staff that are going to be hired within this budget. That takes the total to over 600 staff within the system. That includes speech/language support, that includes autism support, that includes school psychologists, that includes student counsellors, and that includes the work we’re doing around anti-racism and anti-discrimination and supporting new curriculum in the classroom but also supporting modules for our staff to ensure that they have all the supports they need.

This is all part of the work that was done with the report, but again, also with the feedback and the support we have been receiving from the community at large.

LISA ROBERTS: One specific recommendation from the commission’s Students First report was to “replace the Developing and Implementing Programming for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (2012) resource document with updated provincial guidelines that reflect the new model of inclusive education and multi-tiered supports” as part of a new provincial autism strategy.

Will this be part of the work on inclusive education done within this budget?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Yes, that will be part of the strategy this year. This is something that’s important for me to ensure that it is part of this year’s work in the budget.

There’s a framework around that work when we look at the new strategy. I am happy to have further conversations with the member as we get more information and as we move forward with the strategy.

LISA ROBERTS: Okay, I will make sure that my colleague for Dartmouth South, who is the spokesperson on this file, knows that. I think there would be interest in any updated information around the framework for implementation, including budget allocations to that work.

The Commission on Inclusive Education reported that many schools identified capital needs as a barrier to offering inclusive programming. Of course, this government has embraced a commitment to being entirely accessible by 2030, so universal design also has to be implemented in our schools, some of the most important public buildings.

How is the department working with the Regional Centres for Education to address the capital needs of schools related to inclusion?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: This is very important for us. You are absolutely right. As a government, we need to fit into being fully accessible by 2030. Of course with all of our new school builds, that is a major part of the design, understanding that we have older infrastructure.

The Regional Centres will come forward with their priorities. There’s a building committee that we’re involved with with the Regional Centres for Education that looks at what we need to do to ensure accessibility issues are addressed within our infrastructure. That work is ongoing, but it is not going all the time.

Of course, as a government, and any government that comes after us, those investments are going to have to be there to help support those schools.

LISA ROBERTS: Are you able to provide a breakdown at all of how much has been spent on capital needs related to inclusion to date?

THE CHAIR: Order, please. The minister will have time to get the answers as we go on our COVID-19 break. We’ll resume again at 4:40 p.m.

[4:25 p.m. The subcommittee recessed.]

[4:40 p.m. The subcommittee reconvened.]

THE CHAIR: The Subcommittee on Supply resumes.

The honourable member for Halifax Needham. You have 30 minutes left.

LISA ROBERTS: It looks like my colleague for Dartmouth South has just resumed. Do you want to pick it up? We’re just coming back from the break.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Mr. Chair, the member had a question regarding infrastructure around our plan for the 2030 accessibility legislation. I’m trying to track down a number for her. I would have an overall number that we would have to pull together in regard to the money we are spending on new school builds, the money that we’ve spent on renovations. That may be part of a global number overall, but the number that I think she’s looking for would be embedded within that number.

It would take some time to pull that together, but I will try my best to see what we can provide to you after these proceedings. I just don’t have it in front of me right now. I just wanted to follow up on that. That was your question before the break.

LISA ROBERTS: Again, I will turn over the time to our spokesperson on Education and Early Childhood Development, the member for Dartmouth South.

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Dartmouth South.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Before I jump back into what the minister was discussing with my colleague, I want to go back to something we were discussing last night when I asked the minister about recent Statistics Canada data that showed that the number of children under six in child care had decreased in Nova Scotia, from 61 per cent back down to 55 per cent.

I believe the minister said he would look into that last night and be able to address that today. Is there any progress on that question?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: I do have some information for the member from our conversation from last night. What I can say is that the results in Nova Scotia, the decrease that she talks about, is consistent right across the board in provinces across the country. From the data we are receiving from centres, it is consistent.

What I can say is that this is more about a bit of a drop and not the amount of spaces that are available, because we do actually have 2,000 additional spaces within the system. We just saw a drop, like other provinces, due to the pandemic.

What I’ve said multiple times is that this is one of the main reasons why we wanted to continue to fund the sector through the pandemic, to ensure that it came out of the pandemic as strong as possible. Our provincial centres across the country have seen a bit of a drop, but we continue to maintain the spaces that are available for kids.

[4:45 p.m.]

CLAUDIA CHENDER: I thank the minister for that. I think it is a pattern across the country and certainly that Statistics Canada report shows that. I think that’s really consistent with what I have been trying to raise on the floor of the House this session, that this is a recession, this a pandemic that is different from other economic downturns and has impacted families, and in particular women, in really different ways.

We are seeing the results of that with a reduction of children in child care, which I would suggest, and the data would suggest, is correlated to a reduction of women’s participation in the workforce. That may not be women leaving the workforce. It may be going from full time to part time, and other associated pressures - all of which is kind of fodder for our real sort of clear focus on universal child care, because unlike the existing pre-Primary program - which again, we have supported, but it does not have the flexibility to allow a parent to work full time. Universal child care would do that. Regulated child care does do that, but we can’t accommodate as many children as we need to.

I want to go back to some of the questions that you were discussing with my colleague. This budget includes $2 million to create and fund six positions in the new Office of Equity and Anti-Racism Initiatives. We are told that these are to address systemic racism, promote diversity, and improve the economic, social, educational, and health outcomes of all Nova Scotians, which of course we support.

My question to the minister is: How will these people and initiatives work within or liaise with the education system, where we know so many of these issues are present, and where sometimes they also start?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair - a very important question. We have already been engaged with the new department because there are a number of initiatives that we’re involved with in Education and Early Childhood Development that they will also play a role in. Of course that includes our curriculum for our students, ensuring that we’re supporting and expanding the curriculum to ensure that it is culturally responsive to their needs, and also designing new leadership modules within our staff to provide support to them as they enter the classroom and teach our students.

There are some pretty significant investments that we’re making from the inclusive education piece but also partnering with the new department that our deputy has already been engaged in and that I’ll be engaged in with the minister.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: I thank the minister for that answer. The Black Learners Advisory Committee report was published in 1994, and we have raised this in the House several times. That was a long time ago, but that report, which was a real landmark in our education system, documented the achievement gap that exists for African Nova Scotian and Indigenous students. This was echoed in the Glaze report, which came decades later. It also was echoed in the report on inclusive education.

These last reports made recommendations that were made in the BLAC report, so recommendations that were made 25 or 26 years ago that just never happened. Count Us In, the government’s action plan for DPAD, the International Decade for People of African Descent, includes an action to “continue research on student achievement and the achievement gap that targets specific strategies, actions and supports for enhancing the academic success, scholarship, and well-being of African Nova Scotian students.”

I know we had staff presenting in committee on some progress that they made a few months ago. I know there is work being undertaken in the department, and yet report after report, examination after examination, identifies these same persistent challenges. I’m wondering if the minister can comment on why we haven’t seen more progress in this work.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: There are a number of things I want to highlight in supporting our students who have self-identified as African Nova Scotian students or Mi’kmaw- and Indigenous-heritage students. I mentioned this last night. We have just about 7,800 students in the system who identify as African Nova Scotian and approximately 6,800 who identify as Mi’kmaq or of Indigenous descent.

In the department here we actually have two executive directors now who are specifically responsible for the work that we’re doing to support those students. We’ve now really pulled out the data to ensure that we can track each student that it has identified within the system so that we can ensure that the supports are there within the Regional Centres and within the schools to support those students. Those are some of the steps that we’ve recently taken.

This is the first time we have really pulled that data out from the overall student body within the province, to ensure that we’re tracking per student, to ensure that we’re doing whatever we can to support the needs of those students.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: I’m glad to hear that that data collection has improved. I have to say I am somewhat dismayed to hear that this began in the last couple of years, again, after having heard these very concrete recommendations for a long, long time right now.

One of the recommendations in the Glaze report, aside from abolishing school boards, was the need for a coordinated workforce strategy, so not just within the department - and I’ve met those executive directors, and have a lot of respect for the work they are doing - but on the ground. So: identify, recruit, and retain teachers, specialists, and EPAs in communities that need them, with attention paid to increasing diversity in teaching and educational leadership programs, so that those communities see themselves reflected in the staff in their schools, particularly in African Nova Scotian and Mi’kmaw communities, and particularly targeting those communities for workforce programs.

Can the minister speak to any actions the department has taken on this? I know he spoke a little bit about an ECE cohort, but right now I’m more interested in P through 12.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the member for the question. I want to provide an example of some of the targeted work we’re doing through the Delmore “Buddy” Daye Learning Institute, which we fund - $1.1 million to that.

One of the initiatives we had through there was a cohort of guidance counsellors of African Nova Scotian descent. I don’t have the exact number for you, but I’m going to say we were in the 20 range when it came to folks who went through that cohort, where we provided support or tuition support to those residents to go through that program.

That would be one of the examples of some of the targeted support that we do, but of course we’re always working with our Regional Centres for Education and with the CSAP in regard to diversity in the workforce, ensuring that we’re constantly evolving with our policies and our hiring procedures.

We do that within the department here too, so that work is always ongoing. I think the Delmore “Buddy” Daye Learning Institute and that cohort of guidance counsellors is probably a good example of what the member was looking for.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: I thank the minister for that answer. I hope there are more specific - I mean, the minister references that as “an example.” If there are more examples, I’d love it if the department could share that with us, at this time or later.

For the last 10 minutes of our time right now, I’m going to pass it back to my colleague for Halifax Needham.

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Halifax Needham.

LISA ROBERTS: Can the minister share if the department conducts regular gender-based analysis of policies, programs, and spending?

[5:00 p.m.]

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Mr. Chair, I’m just going to ask for a little bit of clarity. If I can get the member - we’re just trying to pull some information together for her. Is your question around gender-based analysis within the department, or across the system? If she could just ask her question again, that would be great.

LISA ROBERTS: The question includes policies, programs, and spending. I think that would include decisions and policies in the actual school system, but also within the department curriculum.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair, through you to the member, I guess I’ll try to answer the question. It’s really a lens that we put on all the work we do, whether it’s at the department level or it’s at our school level, through the funding that we provide through inclusive education. I go to the SchoolsPlus program where, really, we leave that leadership to the local level because not every situation is going to be the same.

If there’s a particular situation happening within the school or within a community that they want to design programs around, the funding is there for them at a local level to do that. I think that’s an important piece of the answer to the member’s question, that we always have that lens on everything we do. It’s hard to put a specific number on that, just because we do it every day and the funding that we provide through inclusive education, whether it’s through SchoolsPlus. The Youth Project is another example of some of the initiatives they may want to do around equality in regard to gender. We support that fully.

LISA ROBERTS: Thanks for that answer. Well, maybe something a little bit more concrete: during the pandemic we know that many parents had challenges related to child care. During the time when schools were closed, how were staff in your department supported in managing their child care needs?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Again, to the member’s question, really the departments throughout the pandemic never stopped working, particularly because this would be a department that would have such a huge impact on child care within the province, our school system working with our Regional Centres for Education, ensuring that the recommendations that are coming forward to support at-home learning during the closure.

I’ve been here for a month. I’ve had the opportunity to work with some of the staff, just at a local level, as an MLA. I’m proud to be their minister and I’m really proud to work with them. It has been a pretty amazing story to learn, for me, in the first month.

To get a little more specific about how the structure worked here, people were always in the office here, supporting whatever facet of the system we needed to support. We had a blended working schedule where people were here. People worked from home as well.

As I said, the work never really stopped because this was one of the departments - the education community was really impacted by COVID-19 and decisions had to be made quickly, to ensure that when school closed - because nobody expected it. Nobody has ever dealt with this before. You are dealing with school closures, you’re dealing with the supports that not only come with the education side of it but also the supports that students would have received, as I said earlier, working with Nourish Nova Scotia and other organizations to ensure that the food programs that students were receiving, they could still get them. We would have played a part in that.

As school opened back up, ensuring that we were working with the Regional Centre for Education to ensure that all the other supports were there to keep our schools open and to ensure that we were providing all the supports to our educators who were in the classroom with our children, with all our cleaning staff and our bus drivers and everybody involved.

It was a stressful time, there’s no question. Everybody was uprooted and we needed to ensure that confidence was in the system to keep schools open. Kudos and congratulations to everybody involved within the system that kept our schools open. A big part of that was the wonderful people who work in this department that I now have the privilege to work with on a daily basis.

We will continue to adjust as we adjust throughout the pandemic. Now our focus is the safety and well-being of our students and our staff and to keep them in the classrooms. We’re on the home stretch now of the school year. We’re starting to have conversations around what the end of the year looks like. It’s an important time of year for our Grade 12 students and their families, so a bit of our focus shifts there.

I’m really proud of being the minister and I’m really proud of the staff.

LISA ROBERTS: Okay. I didn’t hear anything there around supporting staff and managing their child care needs, though I appreciate the remarks, and certainly the work that the department did was very important during this whole period.

I’ll go to a last question. What greenhouse gas emission analysis has been done on your department’s programming? Can it be tabled?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: A question to the member, in regard to your question, TIR would really be the lead on the analysis if you’re looking for, specifically, on our operational side of our GHG. I don’t know if your question was in regard to our curriculum side of things and what I’m trying to implement in the classrooms and some of the training and opportunities I want to do for our students. I think your question is around what we’re looking at from a greenhouse gas emissions perspective.

THE CHAIR: Order, please. The time for the NDP caucus for this hour has expired.

The honourable member for Northside-Westmount.

MURRAY RYAN: Thank you, Mr. Chair. If the minister would like me to re-ask my question surrounding the Northside middle school and what the development plans are, just to refresh his memory.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: I appreciate the question from the member. It has been a long time for that school. The good people of the Northside have been waiting and deserve it and their kids deserve it and the teachers deserve it, so that’s why it’s part of the list.

I’ll say this: I think it’s great, some of the investments that have been happening on the Northside lately. Our government has been committed to some of the work that is happening over there. First and foremost, we have a major health care redevelopment where we’re seeing new a long-term care facility, laundry facility, and health care centre, something that doctors have been working hand-in-hand with government to ensure it is a reality. That’s hundreds of millions of dollars in development.

The work that Haley Street has been doing and our commitment to supporting adults with diverse needs in the community has been important. I’m really proud of the work the food bank’s been doing over there and I know the member has been involved with that. Then most recently, on the weekend, the work that Kenny Bradley and the crew have been doing around the ballfield over there in Sydney Mines. These have been important investments for the Northside, where hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested, as a government, on the Northside, and the school is really a piece of that process.

TIR is still going through their site selection process. As I’ve said, there is a site selection before we would go into design, and the community would provide us with some input. I want to assure the member for Northside-Westmount that it’s in the capital plan. It’s something that he asked me a few weeks ago, actually, and I’m glad that we can have the conversation today.

I’m looking forward to another exciting investment on the Northside by this government and will support our students in the community.

MURRAY RYAN: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’d like to thank the minister for that. TIR is - well, it’s not TIR anymore, I don’t believe, but anyway it is in the site selection mode now.

Just one last quick question to the minister before I pass off to my colleague from Argyle-Barrington. As the minister is probably aware, Memorial High School services the entire Northside, out as far as Baddeck and Cape North, in some instances, and what makes Memorial unique is the vocational programs. Unlike traditional high schools where it’s all academic, there is the vocational aspect to it.

Those vocational instructors are all tradespeople, and there’s a whole set of parameters, qualifications, and the like that those teachers have to have, which makes them quite different from your normal classroom teacher. I was just curious, from the minister’s standpoint, does the department - and I know that some of this trickles down to the Regional Centre for Education - what are the policies of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development related to having a queue list of suitable tradespeople who can flow into those vocational settings, if there are vacancies? In this instance there was an electrical instructor who was off since before Christmas and that position was just filled in early March, I believe.

I appreciate that they have to get approved. There are all sorts of standards that have to be done, but I would think there would be some sort of queue list of 10 or 15 viable candidates that would already be pre-approved that could be deployed in that instance. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[5:15 p.m.]

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair, through you to the member, he’s right that the Regional Centre for Education ultimately does the hire. What we do as a department is we work with our sector councils and various trade representatives to ensure that they are aware of the opportunities that would exist within the centre at home or at other regional centres around the province. That’s the biggest role that we play as a department, but ultimately the hiring does go through the centre.

MURRAY RYAN: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’ll now pass the baton over to my colleague from Argyle-Barrington.

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Argyle-Barrington.

COLTON LEBLANC: Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you very much to the minister and his staff for joining us this afternoon and for the opportunity to ask a couple of questions.

I do want to recognize some of the education projects that are taking place in beautiful Argyle-Barrington. One is the skilled trades centre at École secondaire de Par-en-Bas, not too far behind me, and École Wedgeport, the new elementary school that has been long-awaited for years now. The site has been cleared and hopefully no hiccups for a 2022 opening. I continue to support the community with their endeavours to see the construction on the community centre as well, as part of that build.

I do want to ask the minister about - and one of the first announcements that came from him is regarding the AED announcement for schools. I was very happy to see that policy implementation, part of an idea that was introduced in a piece of legislation by my colleague from Queens-Shelburne, that we had sort of dubbed Brody’s Bill.

I’m just wondering from the minister, is there going to be a standardized placement in the schools across Nova Scotia for automated external defibrillators?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Just a couple of comments before I answer the member’s question. We talked a bit about the schools, in my time as Energy Minister, because I know there was some talk around energy efficiency. I think it’s great for his community. Again, it shows the government is doing our very best to spend resources in the communities that need them, as communities have come forward with projects, regardless of where they were. We’re investing, really, billions of dollars in infrastructure and part of that is our schools, so it’s important for his community as well.

In regard to the AEDs, it is one of those things that was important for me. I appreciate the work that the member did before he became a politician, so I fully understand how important he sees the installation of these in our schools. This gives us another network of these in communities. Particularly to his question around is there a place, particularly within the schools? We’ve recommended to the schools that they place them close to gymnasiums within the buildings. Some of the schools already have them close to the gymnasiums. I think there are approximately 70 schools that had these before I made the decision to put them in every school. We’ve recommended to them to put them next to or as close as possible to gymnasiums.

COLTON LEBLANC: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the minister’s response. I guess to follow up on that, it’s certainly obviously a matter that’s of significant importance to my prior professional background and then even as beyond working as a paramedic but being on the provincial advisory committee for AEDs as well. I’m just wondering what’s the timeline for completion for the installs of these AEDs?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you to the member, I actually have a friend who’s a paramedic. He’s actually one of the managers here at Sydney - Max. You may know him, just through work. He’s a good buddy of mine.

On the question of AEDs, we have started receiving the devices. The target is September, but I’m pretty confident that we’re going to get that work done sooner. Our target is having them installed in every school for September.

COLTON LEBLANC: Thank you, Mr. Chair. In fact, I do know Max very well, so it’s great that we share a mutual friend there.

Another element of Bill No. 143 was EpiPens and Narcan in schools. I think at the time it was in the legislation for junior high and high schools. I’ve heard other colleagues discuss unfortunate drug use in our schools, so that’s with the Narcan lens. With the EpiPen lens, although individuals may not have a known allergic reaction, they can happen very frequently. We know that and we appreciate the safety of our students.

I’m just wondering if that is something that has been discussed or considered with, maybe, the Department of Health and Wellness and to see where that idea lies.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. There’s a couple of pieces that I actually do want to have a conversation with the member on after this, because there are a couple of decisions that still need to be made on how we proceed on a few pieces of this.

I can say that we have a really strong relationship with Public Health that is engaged with our Regional Centre for Education and our schools as issues arise. That work is happening daily.

We also have nurses specific to our regional centres that are also engaged in these conversations. There are a number of stakeholders that are involved with it, but I’ll say that that work is ongoing every day and there are a few decisions that are left to be made on how we proceed on a couple of pieces of this question.

COLTON LEBLANC: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’ll join the long list of off-the-record conversations that we’ll have with the minister.

One last question that is sort of in the realm of my critic portfolio, and I did ask the honourable Minister of Health and Wellness during my time with him. It’s in regard to one of the recommendations in the Fitch and Associates report. It’s on Page 46: “Implement robust CPR and basic first aid programs in schools as a requirement for graduation.”

I’m just looking - the minister wasn’t too familiar, exactly, with that recommendation. I understand that it is one of the recommendations being implemented by government. I’m just wondering, how is this going to be incorporated into the curriculum? Is it going to be, not just, let’s say, June 1^st of Grade 12 and you get it and then you have part of your requirements for graduation? Is it going to be continuous through junior and senior high? Also, how long is it going to take to implement this change? It’s a very important change, I may add.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you to the member, it’s actually in the curriculum now, in certain courses that students would take, whether it’s through - one of the examples would be co-operative education, where we’d be looking at aspects of health and safety and, of course, CPR, so it actually exists within the curriculum now.

In regard to the question from the member in regard to the report, we’re actually working with Health and Wellness now to determine what the next steps are going to be. I think it’s important to recognize that it actually is in the system now, in certain aspects, so students can actually take it and learn the skills necessary, but there needs to be a further conversation with Health and Wellness on how we proceed into the future.

COLTON LEBLANC: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you to the minister, I’m glad to hear that it’s part of the curriculum. I was just reading the recommendation. As it is, it sounds like it’s almost a broad end requirement that would be mandatory for all students, but we can continue that discussion later on.

I do have two more questions, sort of on the same lines as my colleagues had asked before, so they must be widespread issues. The first one is on water. Back when the report was released there were 397 analysis tests done in Argyle-Barrington schools. Sixty-six per cent of those tests exceeded acceptable lead concentrations and 55 per cent of those exceeded copper concentrations.

I’m just looking for an update from the minister on how things are progressing to improve water quality in schools, not only in my constituency of Argyle-Barrington but across the province.

[5:30 p.m.]

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you to the member, I don’t want to sound too repetitive when I say this because it’s important to his constituents in the schools and in the schools across the province. The most up-to-date information for schools, particularly in the member’s area, would be on the regional site, so you could go there and get an update on the work that’s been done.

What I will reiterate to the member again is that we are installing these new stations across the province, these water stations. When we do that, then we will do additional tests to determine if the installation of these stations has corrected the situation to bring it down to the required levels that it needs to be for what the member has offered and if not, then we’ll have to look at additional remediation. That would be our next step.

COLTON LEBLANC: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the minister’s update. I do want to touch on the topic of busing. I’d like to hear the minister’s thoughts on busing of students where there are split families and where they may be just on the border of catchment areas. I have sent off a note to the minister’s office on this, on one particular case in my constituency, and communicated with the Regional Centre for Education. It just seems that students are somewhat at a disadvantage, at no fault of their own, because of split families and maybe not enough flexibility when it comes to busing policy.

I’m just wondering if the minister could provide a few comments on that, and his thoughts on entertaining any exemptions to cases like this.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the question from the member. This is a question that comes up frequently since I’ve taken over this role. Again, what I’d like to reiterate to everyone is that, really, the decisions are made at the Regional Centre for Education.

I know there are some situations - I deal with them myself, as the local MLA, and I know the Chair does, as well, in his community. We’re talking to a few families there as well.

I think the best way to try to address these is if you went to the regional centre. I’m always happy to have a conversation about any situation, but we ultimately leave the decision to the Regional Centre for Education. Maybe the member and I can have a side conversation at another point.

COLTON LEBLANC: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the minister’s offer for future conversations, so I guess we’ll have lots to discuss on the phone at a later date.

With that, that wraps up my few moments of questions. I’ll pass it off to my colleague from Dartmouth East. I think I’ve got my bearings correct.

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Dartmouth East.

TIM HALMAN: The Beast from Dartmouth East! Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you, Mr. Chair, minister, it sounds like there will be a lot of follow-up discussions. That’s great to hear.

With respect to our discussion last night, specifically on our discussion on prescription drugs and opioids and that, a specific curriculum outcome in our schools throughout our grades, I sent an email to your office and I copied Dale Jollota, the mother of Olivia Jollota, so your staff has that and, obviously, if you could have that meeting with her it would be greatly appreciated. She is a wonderful advocate and I think you both will have a lot to gain through that, so thank you for that commitment.

The second thing, just in terms of a follow-up, we had a brief discussion last night on incidents of bullying and cyberbullying. It was indicated in 2019-20 that incidents had been down 14 per cent. You mentioned that you’d get the number as to how many incidents of bullying or cyberbullying occurred in 2019-20. I’m just wondering if you had an update on that.

Mr. Chair, how much time do I have left?

THE CHAIR: About three and a half minutes in this round and then there’s another 30 after that.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Mr. Chair, through you to the member, I have staff looking for the numbers. I have only three and a half minutes left to the MLA, so I’m going to answer you something else, while staff are trying to track that down. We’re happy to try to answer two questions at once.

TIM HALMAN: I appreciate that. Sorry, Mr. Chair, go ahead.

THE CHAIR: Minister, we’re getting feedback from your sound again this time.

TIM HALMAN: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that, minister. A number of the questions I have are sort of those quick, snapper types of questions. I just want to return to the topic of staffing throughout our schools here in Nova Scotia.

Does the department know how many teachers were expecting to retire this year?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the member for the question. Really, they track that regionally, but I’d say on average annually it’s usually around 250 to 300.

TIM HALMAN: Do we expect there will be an increase in retirements this year? Certainly, within the context of COVID-19 I have no doubt the minister knows how challenging this has been. I think this is a question that needs to be asked. Do we expect that this year will perhaps move along some retirements faster than we expected, given the challenges in our classrooms this year?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you to the member, I don’t know if that’s going to change because of the pandemic. I obviously take this opportunity, especially now as our minister - and I do at home as well. I want to thank our teachers, who have been so amazing through the pandemic to ensure that they are doing their part to keep our kids in school. It hasn’t been an easy time for them. It’s been a huge period of transition. I can appreciate where the member is going with his question because we really had to adjust quickly to a closure, to online learning, at-home learning and then, of course, open back up under the protocols of Public Health.

Through it all teachers have excelled, based on their ability to teach our kids but ultimately on a foundation of love and compassion for our kids and for the community. I really want to thank teachers for that. I have had so many conversations across the province with so many amazing educators who just love our children and they want to be there for them, and they work for them in a time for children and families that was so unpredictable. It was an unprecedented time in history, not only in this province but in the world.

To the member’s question, I don’t know if - it’s hard to say right now whether the pandemic will increase that average of 250 to 300. I think at March Break - we added, we knew how . . .

THE CHAIR: Order, please. Sorry to interrupt but we have reached the time for the COVID-19 break, so we’ll take 15 minutes and return at 5:55 p.m.

[5:40 p.m. The subcommittee recessed.]

[5:55 p.m. The subcommittee reconvened.]

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Dartmouth East.

TIM HALMAN: Thank you, Mr. Chair. As much as I enjoy spending time with the minister - it’s a privilege - I want to ensure that all our colleagues get an opportunity to have a discussion with the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development, so I yield my time to the member for Cumberland North.

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Cumberland North.

We’ll go back to the member for Dartmouth East until the member for Cumberland North is available.

TIM HALMAN: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Minister, as I’m sure you are probably aware, there were staffing pressures pre-COVID-19; there are staffing pressures now. We have in our schools in Nova Scotia I guess what you would classify as unqualifieds, those without B.Eds. Certainly I understand they play a very important role and certainly I have no doubt it is a great learning experience for them, to be a classroom teacher.

For the record, this isn’t something that I’m necessarily opposed to. As a matter of fact, I started my teaching career in the province of Ontario as an unqualified and a long-term occasional contractor in that province, so I understand the function and certainly the issues that they are addressing, in terms of the pressures on staffing.

My question is this: Does the department track how many unqualifieds we have in the classroom? When I say that, I mean those without a Bachelor of Education.

[6:00 p.m.]

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sorry for the delay. To the member, I was trying to pull some information together. It was a little bit higher this year. I’m trying to figure out what we would do on an average - any average given year but, of course, the pandemic played a bit of an impact there when it came to the numbers.

This year we issued 213 permits. Of those 213 permits, 102 actually taught. This would be somebody with an undergrad degree, with some experience, as the member would be familiar with, as he was a teacher in the system. We have 102 of those permits who actually teach at the time. Again, that number is a little bit higher due to the pandemic. Of course, this would be for instances where we would not have a substitute available and/or a course that would be difficult to find somebody to actually act as a sub, so a more specialized course, as he would be aware. I believe that answers his question.

TIM HALMAN: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the minister for the response. I am not necessarily in the business of giving unsolicited advice, but I think with those numbers you have a lot of uncultivated teaching talent right there that could be harnessed and directed into a B.Ed. program, as appropriate. Certainly, while it’s not ideal, I know it is fulfilling a function. I know that at the school my children attend there have been unqualifieds in the classroom and I think you’re talking about baptism by fire for a lot of these folks.

I see a lot of potential there to direct that talent, hopefully, into a Bachelor of Education program here in the province. That being said, I’d like to yield my time to the member for Cumberland North.

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Cumberland North. You have approximately 16 minutes.

ELIZABETH SMITH-MCCROSSIN: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m going to ask the minister a few questions. I have several schools in Cumberland North. The first school I’d like to ask the minister a question about is Wallace Elementary. It’s a very small school with a small population, with a fair amount of vacant space. I’m wondering if the minister would be able to share what the future plans are for that physical structure. Would there be any opportunity for a community member to provide daycare services or other children-related supporting activities in that physical structure?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: It’s great to talk to the member. I always recall my time in the Department of Municipal Affairs, when we went on a tour where I had an opportunity to be in her community and everybody was really wonderful at the time. I think you were away doing some work at the time when I was there. I think you were in another part of the community. You live in a beautiful spot and I’ve got a lot of respect for your local council and the hospitality they showed when I was there.

You have two questions there. So, Wallace, the Regional Centre for Education really makes the determination on what the future holds for the school. Of course, I can have them reach out to you to have that conversation.

In regard to your second question, as to whether or not there could be some other kind of child care services, I don’t know if there’s a plan particularly for that school, but it has happened in other jurisdictions across the province. Again, I think that would be something you may want to talk to the Regional Centre for Education about. I have staff here who are actually going to reach out on your behalf. Just let them know that you asked the question to me and I will make sure that they follow up. It has been done in Nova Scotia.

ELIZABETH SMITH-MCCROSSIN: Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, minister. The next two schools in Cumberland North are in Pugwash. We have PDHS - Pugwash District High School - and Cyrus Eaton Elementary School. Cyrus Eaton is starting to show its age and I’m wondering if the minister can share if it would be on a long-term plan for replacement?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you to the member, any time we look at - when we build the capital plan for schools, really, the direction starts with the Regional Centres. The Regional Centre for Education would provide the priorities for replacement or any other kind of infrastructure upgrades to the buildings.

We take all that information from the centres - there are representatives from the Regional Centre for Education, from the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, from TIR that would go through those lists of priorities.

I’m not sure if the centre has specifically put that school on their list of priorities but that may be a conversation you want to have with them. That would be the first foundational piece of trying to get a school in the system for capital replacement.

ELIZABETH SMITH-MCCROSSIN: Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, minister. I was able to see the plan for New Waterford. It’s a very exciting project there, through the Health redevelopment plan. I just want to share with the minister that Cyrus Eaton Elementary School is going to need to be replaced at some point in the near future, as well as, in the Department of Health and Wellness, the East Cumberland Lodge, which is one of our long-term care facilities, is going to need to be replaced.

I just wanted to plant that seed, that there may be an opportunity for something similar to what we’re seeing being planned in New Waterford.

Also, in relation to that, physically between Cyrus Eaton and East Cumberland Lodge is Pugwash District High School, and adjacent to that is where the new Pugwash hospital is being built. I wanted to just plant a seed with the minister and also ask the question: Has there been any discussion around creating an efficient heating or electrical system that could potentially be shared with all four of these physical infrastructure pieces that would be owned by the province?

Technically, East Cumberland Lodge is owned by the municipality but, again, a government piece of infrastructure.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: I thank the member for her comments on the development at New Waterford and her question around energy. There are a couple of different departments you can actually ask that question to, and possibly a few suggestions from my previous life in the Department of Energy and Mines and the Department of Lands and Forestry.

I’ll say the New Waterford project is spectacular and I really think that future development in communities across the province should look at that model. The community really rallied. That’s probably the largest project in recent memory for that community. That is a massive redevelopment, which is going to not only provide the new infrastructure for their school and their health care - again, being led by local doctors in the community. We’re taking our lead from them on what they see. That is a first-in-Canada kind of approach when it comes to giving students not only the educational opportunity with the infrastructure and the more traditional learning but also tying health care into it to see what opportunities are there for them. Tying that whole collaborative kind of approach to it is amazing.

I would never discourage you from trying to pursue something like that in your community, or any community across the province. I think it’s just really been an amazing story for the Island overall and for the community that’s getting that new infrastructure.

In regard to energy, there’s actually a couple of departments you could look at when it comes to the energy side of things. I know that on the Lands and Forestry side they look at some of the possibilities around wood heat or whatever. I would encourage you to reach out to them, as well, to talk about some of those conversations. They may actually be looking at some of that stuff within your community.

For us, we wouldn’t get into the energy side as much. Of course, we work with TIR on the review process when it comes to new infrastructure for schools, whether it goes on a current site. Of course, as I’ve explained a few times through Estimates, this process can go through whether it stays on the current site or if it goes to another site, bringing the community into the conversation.

I guess to try to bring that all together into an answer to your question, I would advise you to talk to a few different departments on the energy side. The staff at both departments are fantastic. I had the honour to be the minister for an extended period of time, so I would bring your concerns that way to them, to see if they’re looking at any kind of energy projects within the community.

Again, really, my answer to your question on what you want to do for the future of your own community, I would never deter anybody from looking at ways that we can expand from the traditional, or any opportunities that we have for students. It’s going to be a huge success for that community.

ELIZABETH SMITH-MCCROSSIN: Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, minister. It looks like the Department of Infrastructure and Housing is planning geothermal for the new hospital in Pugwash. I guess they did look at wood heat and they decided upon geothermal.

I do see a lot of future potential, working together with both our long-term care facility and knowing we’re going to be needing a new physical structure for the elementary school at some time in the near future. I just wanted to bring that up.

Moving along, we have Northport Elementary School, which, again, is similar to Wallace in that the population has declined in that community and there’s a lot of shared classrooms, but it’s a beautiful, small community school and very important to the community of Pugwash. I was just wondering if the minister was aware of any future plans that may change the use of that structure, or is the department planning on continuing to have an elementary school in the community of Northport?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair, and through you to the member, there are no plans at this time to make any changes but, of course, we’re always interested in hearing from our communities and our students and our teachers about any initiatives they want to bring forward to help support the students.

ELIZABETH SMITH-MCCROSSIN: Then moving along into the town of Amherst. We have incredible school infrastructure in our town of Amherst, and you may be aware of that. We certainly welcome the minister to visit Cumberland North and Amherst in his capacity as the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.

Former MLA Ernest Fage played a big role in ensuring that we had new schools built in our area, so Spring Street Academy is fairly new, as well as Cumberland North Academy, as well as West Highlands. We have three very new elementary schools in the town of Amherst and all at full capacity. There are a lot of young people, a lot of children in the town of Amherst.

[6:15 p.m.]

Really, the only concerns I hear from those schools, Mr. Chair, is sometimes access to testing, like psychological testing, as well as services related to and supports for speech therapy and supports for children with autism. I’m sure it’s probably similar to other parts of the province. I’m wondering if the minister has any comments about it, if there’s going to be any additional investment in the area for supports for these children in Cumberland North.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair, and through you to the member, there would be access to many of the programs that we provide across the system in that particular community when it comes to speech/language support or when it comes to community health support. A lot of the things we offer within the inclusive education supports we provide for students. Again, we’re investing another $15 million this year in inclusive education. That’s going to bring our total to $60 million.

We are hiring an additional 250 staff with that. Again, that’s autism support, speech/language support, and various other supports that we’ve provided within that suite of inclusive education. I would anticipate that additional supports would be going into the community.

What I would advise the member is, if you’re hearing something that is consistent, that families or the school are saying is a gap, please bring it up with the Regional Centre for Education because we’re in constant contact with them. If there is a gap, we want to address it, of course. If there’s additional supports that are needed in that community, of course we want to address it because you know that we provide consistent supports across the board but every community is unique, every situation is unique and we want to make sure that if there is something we can do to help, that we can, so I would encourage, of course.

I’m always here to have that conversation, as well, with any member of the House but the process we follow is that usually the centres will tell us what they need when it comes to resources, and if there is something, please reach out to the centre to ensure that our staff is aware of it.

ELIZABETH SMITH-MCCROSSIN: Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the minister. Our last two schools in Cumberland North are E.B. Chandler Junior High and then ARHS - Amherst Regional High School - and that covers all of our schools.

I’m going to make a couple of comments because there may not be time for you to answer all the questions. There are three other things that I wanted to bring up. One is a common theme that I hear from business owners in our community, and this has been an ongoing issue for about 10 years. It’s that they don’t feel that the schools are educating the students enough about opportunities in our own community for employment, post high school or post secondary education. That’s one thing.

The second thing is I’m wondering if there are any initiatives for local food and teaching our children about how to grow their own gardens and food.

The third issue I wanted to bring up - and this has been discussed with Mr. Gary Adams in the past - and that is the issue and concern of illegal drug use in our high school and addressing those concerns with student safety. Those are my last three comments.

THE CHAIR: Minister, if you can answer that in 25 seconds you’re doing well.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: I’ll try. First, on food, that’s part of my mandate. Part of my mandate is to support local food in our schools but also give students the opportunity to learn more about local food produce.

In regard to opportunities within communities, I think there’s a huge opportunity, particularly in that member’s community, when it comes to renewable energy. I want to expand our trades programs to give students the opportunity to learn more about that, not only in their curriculum . . .

THE CHAIR: Order, please.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: I tried, I tried.

THE CHAIR: The time for the PC caucus has expired. We’ll now recognize the NDP caucus.

The honourable member for Dartmouth South, you have 25 minutes.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: I am going to use 10 of these minutes and then yield my time to the member for Cape Breton-Richmond. I have more than 10 minutes’ worth of questions.

I will also start with a couple of local questions. One is about the Southdale-North Woodside school in Dartmouth. It was replaced, theoretically, just after I was elected. Construction finished on Dartmouth South Academy, which, by the time it was built, was already seemingly not big enough for the cohort that it attracted.

We know that the real estate market in Dartmouth is booming and there are a lot of kids. The school down the street was retained by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, I think for storage, for the last few years but now is home to the pre-Primary program. It needs work. The school grounds are just kind of rough asphalt everywhere and clearly the school was in the process of being decommissioned as a school and then was started up again. I’m glad the department retained the school and didn’t revert the property back to the city of Halifax because I think we will need that capacity.

I’m wondering if the minister can tell me what, if any, plans there are for that site.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you to the member, I’m not aware of anything that is in front of me. I am engaging here with staff to determine if there is anything. What we will commit to is we will reach out to the Regional Centre for Education, let them know that you are asking questions and go from there.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: Thank you, that would be great. Any information you could provide would be terrific.

There are some big gaps, notwithstanding the investment, in inclusive education and there continue to be gaps. I spoke to a teacher today - in fact, while my colleague was asking questions here - who burst into tears, describing the number of students she had who were experiencing significant mental health issues and the caseload that guidance had. The IWK CHOICES program, which I know would be the purview of the Minister of Health and Wellness, but they are now booking three to four months out for a single appointment. Most private clinicians in HRM are not taking patients at all and I know it’s worse in many rural areas.

I’m wondering if the minister is paying attention to or has active plans for immediate and accessible mental health support and to social and emotional support for students who have been so resilient but who are still continuing to struggle through this pandemic.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair, and through you to the member, that is an excellent question. Of course, it is something that is top of mind for me and I’m sure top of mind for everybody. It has been really tough on families and on kids. In many cases, for the younger kids, they never really understood what was taking place. It’s something that we’ve all had conversations with our own children about, as we had to close down schools, and now it’s been quite a year where we’ve really - in some cases it’s hard to describe what kids have been feeling about this, and the fear that has been there in the community, trying to keep everybody safe. They have been so resilient through all of it.

You are absolutely right, it’s something that is top of mind for me. What we’re doing is working with the Department of Health and Wellness to determine how we can quickly address some of these concerns that are coming from our educators and the amazing work they have been doing to try to keep kids together through this, right? It has been tough and they’ve been wonderful through it. We’re working really closely with the Department of Health and Wellness to see what we can do as quickly as possible.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: I thank the minister for that answer. I think one quick answer is, you know, more clinicians with lower caseloads. I’ll just finish up by saying that when I finished my conversation with that teacher, what she said to me was: Kids come to me and they are struggling, and when I can’t offer them a resource - they need more than just me and I can’t offer them a resource for months - what that tells them is that they are not important. I really hope that there is urgent attention to this - for my kids, for our kids, for all kids.

In my last few minutes, I want to ask: In your ministerial mandate letter you are directed to review the IPP program. This has been a real issue, particularly in racialized communities. There’s a lot of conversations about the ways in which IPPs are used and inappropriately used. Can you describe how the review, which is described as a collaborative review, will be undertaken?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you to the member, it absolutely will be collaborative. Our deputy has already had the conversations with the new office to determine how we want to roll out the review.

There have been a number of reviews done over the years, as the member is aware. It is a part of my mandate. It’s important to me. It will be collaborative in ensuring that we’re doing everything we can in getting the input that we need to make the right decisions going forward.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: The Africentric Math Cohort program at Auburn Drive High was started a few years ago and seems to have been a pretty resounding success. We’ve heard Karen Hudson’s name a few times in the Chamber and I think for a really good reason. I’m wondering if the department has plans for establishing some more programs in other schools.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’d like to thank the member for the question. I think we’re coming to the end of her time, too, so as always, I appreciate the conversations we’ve had over the last few days, which I’m sure will continue as we move forward.

[6:30 p.m.]

We’re very proud of that program. We’re looking at what supports we want to provide, really, right across the board. Again, that goes back to what I’ve been talking about around the investments that we’re making to inclusive education. It is a huge focus of the $50 million that we’re putting in again this year to support that work across the system.

CLAUDIA CHENDER: Thank you, minister, and I appreciate your answers. I’m going to yield the remainder of my time to the member for Cape Breton-Richmond.

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Cape Breton-Richmond, with 15 minutes left.

ALANA PAON: Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the member for ceding me some of her time. Less than 15 minutes now, so I feel like we’re about to embark on what I can imagine might be a form of what speed dating must be like, so let’s get ’er done.

I wanted to just start off by saying I am a parent to a son who is now 31 but who went through both the provincial school program, through French immersion, and then went through the Conseil scolaire acadien and then ended up his education finishing in a private school for the last two years, which cost me a small fortune but ended up having an IB diploma at the end.

My first question is, having had that kind of broad experience with the different school systems, can the minister tell me if there are any plans to expand the opportunity for IB programs throughout Cape Breton Island? Specifically, I’d like to know within my own constituency of Cape Breton-Richmond. I ask this simply because I know of the value that came from my son going through that IB program, as grumpy as he was sometimes with the amount of homework.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you to the member, I appreciate that we have only a few minutes, so I don’t want to take too much time off-mic. I want you to be able to have the opportunity to ask your questions.

At this point right now, I don’t have any plans to expand the program. I know that it is in schools across jurisdictions in the province. I actually went to a school where IB was there, so I know people who went through the program as well, but at this point right now there’s no plan to expand IB to other schools. Again, it’s something that the Regional Centres would probably have more to say about. If they wanted to, they would have to submit a proposal to us.

ALANA PAON: Thank you, Mr. Minister, I’ll keep that in mind. I just know, again, the advantage of having some of your first year of university already kind of tucked under your belt. If you do considerably well on your international exams, it’s kind of an advantage. You save a lot of money, obviously, going into your first year in university by being able to take advantage of some of that. Just something to keep in mind, anyway, moving forward.

The second thing is, and I believe another member touched on it earlier, was local procurements. Many members know that, obviously, I have been farming for quite a few years and local food and food security is something I am extremely passionate about.

I know in other areas of the world, specifically in France, the kids sometimes have lunch together and they really use utensils and there is one child who is responsible for making certain that the table is set. Other kids are in the kitchen actually preparing the food and it’s an actual event that they are utilizing some time as part of the curriculum that they all have a responsibility to either prepare the food, to prepare a table, or to do clean-up. I just think it’s an awesome opportunity for children to be able to gather together and to learn some skills, obviously, social skills and food-related skills, but also they utilize a lot of locally produced foods.

I’m wondering if the minister can tell me if there are any plans in place to try and increase the amount of locally procured foods within our school systems?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: I want to thank the member for the question. Absolutely, yes, this is something that is part of my mandate, to look at food supply in the schools. Of course, as somebody who used to be in the entrepreneurship world and programming and education, this is important to me. I think that we have some great opportunities across the province for local producers to be part of the conversation. I will be reaching out to some of them.

I know some of our neighbouring provinces have been looking at this as well, so I’ll be reaching out to them as well.

ALANA PAON: Thank you, Mr. Minister. The next question is, again, on the food related scope but also expanding our horizons when it comes to curriculum offerings around producing food and understanding where our food comes from. I know some schools have some local gardens, community gardens, near them that they contribute to. I’m actually thinking in the curriculum itself, to get kids really excited about farming and agriculture at a very young age, as opposed to a lot of people, obviously, grow up in it. I didn’t grow up as a farmer, I decided to go into farming as a new farmer. My grandfather would have been a farmer and my dad did a bit of farming as well, but that was before my time. I kind of jumped into it with a keen interest but it would have been great to actually have that introduced to me at a young age, just like many other things.

I’m wondering if there’s a possibility of being able to, again, integrate more about agriculture and farming and animal husbandry through our curriculum for children who are in elementary school, junior high, and then high school.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Mr. Chair, through you to the member, in the curriculum for Primary to Grade 6 there actually is some of what you are looking for in regard to what we’re teaching and exposing our students to when it comes to that area. Also, we have a close relationship with the Department of Agriculture that we utilize their support and their expertise to expose students to that world.

Again, it’s something that’s part of my mandate letter when it comes to locally produced food but it’s not just about the actual food, it’s actually about what else can we do to support kids and expose them to the sector and a potential future for them.

ALANA PAON: Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, minister, for your response. Within my constituency, in fact, just down the road, as we say in Cape Breton, from my constituency office in St. Peter’s, we have an amazing opportunity. There’s a beautiful camp called Camp Rankin. I went to it as a child myself. It’s a 4-H camp, a beautiful legacy, actually, to be able to have that resource in our community. It is a 4-H camp, so I guess my question to the minister is: Does the minister have plans or - you know 4-H is one of those things where it’s about the development of the whole child. It’s about leadership. It’s more than just agriculture. Sometimes I think that in some areas that agriculture may have not petered out but maybe it’s not the main focus, so I’m wondering if, again, the minister may be looking at reaching out to organizations that are extremely well-rooted, obviously, in child leadership development but also agriculture in particular, to be able to do some mirroring of programs and opportunities within the schools and to be able to enhance that program a little bit, as an offering.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through you to the member, we’re actually engaged with 4-H now. Grade 10s can take the 4-H program as part of their development if they take the course through 4-H, if they take that in place of something else, so that relationship does exist now with 4-H. I think that’s fantastic.

I’m here talking to staff. I had no idea that that actually existed, so full disclosure. They say it’s very successful. Students are taking it. It’s been a longstanding relationship. As I’ve said, we work with the Department of Agriculture a lot, to ensure that if there’s anything else we can offer to students, that we will. It is something that our government is supportive of when looking at - obviously, it’s in my mandate letter. We’ll look at this a little bit further.

ALANA PAON: Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, minister. Just a quick question about the Grade 10 4-H: Is that available to all students throughout all schools in the province?

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Through you to the member, Mr. Chair, we are actually going to send you some information. There is a site that you can check out - I’ll make sure that it gets to you - that would outline the relationship we that have with 4-H. We don’t administer the program through the school. It’s something that they administer the course themselves and the students have the option to participate.

ALANA PAON: Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, minister. Just one comment on, again, a kind of related but slightly different subject, which is entrepreneurship. I used to work for the Centre for Entrepreneurship Education and Development quite a few years ago, teaching entrepreneurship, and part of the mandate of my time there was helping to put the curriculum together for entrepreneurship Grades 11 and 12. That’s high school.

I have a son who went to university and he actually has a business degree in entrepreneurship - we’re an entrepreneurship lot. I would really love to be able to know if we are introducing the idea to children, right from Primary, that they can open up their own businesses. We are doing a great job in opening and helping businesses open up when we get into later stages in life or introducing it as a possibility in Grades 11 and 12.

I’m not sure about the minister but I was tinkering around with opening businesses when I was a kid. I just want to know, is that introduced - financial awareness and entrepreneurship awareness - when children are still in elementary school, as opposed to only introducing it in high school? I think we do a great job in educating our kids but we educate them a lot of the time to become employees as opposed to employers.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: One minute? I was actually the sandbox coordinator for Cape Breton before I did this, so I was involved with social - clean technology, entrepreneurship. One of the things we actually did was partner with growing labs for our kids in the P to 12 system. It’s a huge success. I’m actually going to put up this card. We have awards that we provide, from Grades 6 to 12, but we actually start in Primary, so it goes right through the system. The entrepreneurship lens will always be there. It’s something that is near and dear to my heart. That is what I was involved with before I got here, so we’re going to continue to do it. How much time do I have left?

THE CHAIR: Twenty seconds.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: I’ll just say this. I appreciate questions from the member. I’m glad we had a few minutes to have some conversation with me. If you run into any of the Mombourquettes in Richmond, tell them that cousin Derek said Hi.

ALANA PAON: I will. Thank you, minister.

[6:45 p.m.]

THE CHAIR: Order, please. The time for questioning has expired. I don’t know whether I should call what the minister put up there a prop or not. Anyway, we’ll now call on the minister for some closing remarks and to put his resolution forward.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: How much time do I have, Mr. Chair?

THE CHAIR: Ten minutes.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Okay, I’ll start off by saying thank you to everybody over the last couple of days who have taken the time to spend with me to talk about education and the importance of education in the province.

I’ve also been supported by a number of staff members in answering those questions. It’s always a journey when you’re in a job for a month and then you get thrown up for eight hours of Estimates and you try to be an expert, which sometimes can sound way more political than you want it to, for the members too. I do my very best to be as accessible as possible to all of you.

You had a number of questions and some great ideas as we talked through the last couple of days. As you know, whether it was in Education or Energy or any other department, I am always here to answer your questions to the best of my ability.

I’ve had the opportunity to travel the province and the honour of being a Cabinet Minister and I’ve had the opportunity to see many of your communities - actually, all of your communities, so I’ve seen a lot of strengths and I think there’s a lot of opportunities, both in our urban areas and also in communities across the province.

I appreciate your feedback. I know how much our students in this province mean to all of you and it has been a great conversation.

Again, I really want to reiterate, and I’ve said it a few times throughout the conversation in the last few days, this has been a year like no other in our system. We have never dealt with anything like this before, nobody has. The staff in this department have been amazing to do what we need to do, as a government, as we made decisions in consultation with Public Health. They have stepped up time and time again to ensure that we’re doing whatever we can to support the overall system.

To the people on the ground, in our communities, to our educators, to everybody who supports those educators and the specialized services that we provide to students, to our janitorial staff, to our cleaning staff, to our bus drivers, to the folks who are preparing meals for our kids every day, to our early childhood educators, whether they are in the pre-Primary system or they are outside, in the sector, I cannot express my thank you from all of us, whether we’re on the government side or not, as all MLAs. I think I speak on behalf of all of us when I say this. I cannot express our gratitude for the work that you have done to keep our schools open, to keep our schools operating, to keep our classrooms open for our children, to keep the supports in place for our kids and our families to access.

When we closed down - I talked about it earlier - we had people who - we had to move to at-home learning. We had to adjust quickly. We had to provide technology to ensure that we were continuing to do what we could. We had to upgrade our wi-fi services. There are people on the ground, there are communities on the ground - everybody rallied, based on the foundation of love and compassion and support for our kids.

It is a story that when the Nova Scotia COVID-19 story is told, all of the successes of government working with Public Health, working with our communities, one of the great stories will be our education system. We did not shut down. We kept our kids where they needed to be. It was done ultimately because of love and support and compassion for our kids.

The member for Dartmouth South had a great line when she said, love is our superpower. She was absolutely right with that because, ultimately, we live in a province that looks after one another, that cares for one another, and that wants to see our kids succeed. That will be one of the greatest stories that comes out of this for all of us, that when the times were as tough as they were, when we had to make decisions, we very easily could have shut down but we didn’t because we all knew that’s where our kids belonged. They belong in a classroom and everybody rallied to ensure that that happened.

I hope this message gets far and wide because as I said, I think it’s not just from me, it’s from all of us: Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Our kids are better for it.

I don’t know how much time I have left - five minutes? Thank you to the honourable member from Richmond. As I talked about throughout the last couple of days is that, again, you’re seeing government making significant investments in the future of our children. We’re seeing significant investments to support pre-Primary. Would we continue to make significant investments to support our early childhood sector? Again, $75 million in this budget is to support our wage floor, to support training opportunities, to support a number of initiatives within our sector, but that conversation continues with them. I am looking forward to meeting with them again next week.

I’ve been very clear with all of my colleagues in this forum and publicly that I believe the next conversation is looking at a true universal system. We’re going to have that conversation with our federal partners. Nova Scotia is ready yesterday to have that conversation.

Again, inclusive education has been something that has been a huge investment and part of our government, based on the conversations that we’ve had with stakeholders, with our teachers, with our support staff, with our health care sector. Again, we’ve seen $15 million more invested in the budget to support the many supports that our students require and have asked for and what our educators have asked for over the years, supports for more speech supports, more autism supports, more supports with the community nurses within our schools, more supports for mental health in our SchoolsPlus, more supports to support anti-racism and anti-discrimination, supports like the Youth Project, supports like the work that we’re doing with our African Nova Scotian and Indigenous communities.

Mr. Chair, again, it has been an honour to do this. I am getting some sort of signal that the Chair is giving me on mute, so I think it may be time to read my resolution at this point.

THE CHAIR: Shall Resolution E4 stand?

The resolution stands.

On behalf of the committee, I’d like to thank the minister for being with us the last couple of days, or the last couple of evenings, I guess it is. When we meet again tomorrow, we will be welcoming the Minister of Energy and Mines to the meeting.

I have to talk for 54 more seconds, just to make sure that we do this legally. I can talk about the Leafs.

Minister, thank you very much for being with us the last couple of days, as I mentioned earlier.

We are now adjourned.

Thank you all. Have a great night.

[The subcommittee adjourned at 6:54 p.m.]