HALIFAX, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 2022

SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE ON SUPPLY

5:09 P.M.

CHAIR

Dave Ritcey

THE CHAIR: The Subcommittee on Supply will come to order, to consider the estimates for the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.

It’s a continuation from last evening, minister. The NDP caucus has 35 minutes remaining in their first hour.

The honourable member for Halifax Needham.

SUZY HANSEN: I’m just going to start off questioning. There is $50 million in capital spending in the COVID‑19 response forecast through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. Would you be able to provide a further breakdown of how that was spent? Is it possible to see a list of projects by the RCE?

HON. BECKY DRUHAN: The $50 million capital expenditures in relation to the COVID‑19 response are comprised of $30 million that went towards modulars and $20 million that went towards a variety of school improvements, many of which related to ventilation.

I believe that that list is detailed on a federal government website relating to that funding. Each region had different improvements that were implemented. We’ll follow up on that and make sure that the member has a list.

SUZY HANSEN: In the budget, there is significantly more budgeted this year for portable classrooms - and you just mentioned that as well as part of that particular spending - from $460,000 to more than $1 million. How many portable classrooms is the department expecting to purchase this year, and what is the total number of portable classrooms in use in this school year?

BECKY DRUHAN: Actually, I would ask if the member could clarify the line item that she’s referring to, that would assist in providing a response.

SUZY HANSEN: I’m going to get back to you on that one. I’ll just ask another question and then I can get the line item for you.

This one is on school capital. The SJAM community, which is St. Joseph’s A. McKay, has not had any new information on their new school since October 2021. The project is now behind schedule, and we do not know how the school steering committee is going to respond to concerns that the current plans are too small to accommodate population growth in the community.

The school advisory committee and the home and school association have written letters to the SST and the minister asking for an update on the new school and have not had a response yet. I knew I was going to be in front of you, so I said I was going to ask.

Could the minister provide an update on that school build? Is there a timeline? What are the plans to address concerns about the size? There are three questions there - update on the school build, timeline, and what are the plans to address concerns about the size of the new school?

BECKY DRUHAN: The new school builds are really, really exciting for communities and we understand and share that excitement. We also understand the anticipation and impatience when waiting. It’s totally natural. This is a really exciting development for the community. We share that excitement and completely understand why folks are interested in getting updates on what’s happening.

I will say that anytime I’m asked in this context about updates on timing of capital projects, I have no specific update to provide right at this moment. But I have to offer the caveat that COVID-19 has been a challenge for all sectors for capital development and for buildings. That really has impacted many of our educational projects.

That being said, I don’t have an update in terms of the timing or the progress at this time, but I will commit to connecting with the Regional Centre For Education and making sure that the centre provides an update to the community so they can know what’s under way and whether there are any impacts on the timing of the school build.

[5:15 p.m.]

In relation to the third question on the size of the school, we are really excited about growth in our communities, and we’re committed to furthering that growth. We’re very much mindful of the infrastructure needs that that poses broadly across all of our systems, but also specifically in relation to education.

That said, once the school steering committee is engaged on this matter and starts turning their mind to the issues around the school build, one of the items that input is welcomed on is certainly school capacity and needs. It’s something that the region always has in mind and always considers when looking at new builds, but there’ll be opportunity for community voice at the school steering committee as well as that build progresses and we can consider that then.

SUZY HANSEN: Thank you so much for your answer, minister. I appreciate that you will have the department get back to the community members. There has already been consultation with community and there is a steering committee that’s already engaged. It is an ongoing process, there’s just been a halt, and they are confused as to why. They just want to have some updates, so I’m glad to hear that we will hear back very shortly about this particular build in Halifax Needham.

My question previous to that, when you asked me about the line from the $460,000 to more than $1 million - that is located on Page 8.10 in the Estimates and Supplementary Detail.

BECKY DRUHAN: I’m going to try to not mangle this because this is an accounting explanation. This doesn’t reflect any change in spending. This is an amortization amount and it reflects accounting depreciation of purchases that have already been made and are already in place. It doesn’t reflect any change in ongoing or future purchases - it really is an accounting line item.

SUZY HANSEN: So there’s no change in the amount of modulars that are actually being purchased at all?

BECKY DRUHAN: I was speaking about that particular line item. There’s no reflection in that line item about any future purchases around modulars or future purchases at all because it’s an amortization line item. The capital plan that we have released, and have recently shared, is a reflection of the existing five-year plan that’s in place.

We’re continuing to do work around needs assessment to determine what may need to be added to the plan as we move forward, but nothing new has been shared or updated at this time.

SUZY HANSEN: I need clarity, I just want to know this - just because we talk about growth and how our communities have grown, we know that families come with children who go to school. When I talk about additional modulars that have been added, you’re telling me that there aren’t any at all that are new within this existing plan that need to be added to the school system right now?

BECKY DRUHAN: Just to be clear, the five-year capital plan that has just been released is the existing capital plan - that’s the one that had already been created and it reflects existing committed projects.

Our evaluation and assessment and consideration of what additional current needs may exist and what future needs may require attention is ongoing. We’re absolutely looking at that. We’re looking at what needs to be addressed in the coming months to address the growth that has already occurred and as we move forward into anticipated growth. The fact that you are not seeing additional spends in the existing budget relating to that - it doesn’t mean that there won’t be any.

SUZY HANSEN: What I’m saying is, it went from $460,000 to more than $1 million. You’re saying it was an amortization amount. When I think about that amount of money, I’m wondering, have we added more modulars to the schools or to the areas in which they need that space? I know that most schools are over capacity.

I’m just curious to know how many additional modulars are actually added within this particular year.

BECKY DRUHAN: I think we’re talking two different things just because of the way the numbers are reflected. I will say this is one thing that I had to work to wrap my head around, so I apologize if I’m not explaining it clearly as an accountant might be able to do.

That number that exists in the plan that we’re talking about that looks like an increase in spending or a change in purchasing - it doesn’t relate to current or future purchasing at all. It’s just an accounting artifact, so it’s an accounting mechanism that shows the decrease in value over time, of assets that already exist.

It really doesn’t speak at all to what we’re purchasing or building for the future. It’s just a way of accounting for the fact that you spend a whole lot of money up front for an asset that exists for a long period of time and you need to reflect that in an accounting way on the books, and that’s how it looks. Hopefully I’ve explained it better.

SUZY HANSEN: One thing that I’m grateful for being part of the school board is that we had to do it line by line by line. When I see a number like that, when there’s a rising number, I wonder if we’ve spent more and how many more we’ve purchased. If at some point you might be able to give me the numbers of modulars that are actually in existence right now with this particular school year, that would be lovely.

I think at the end of the day - and no disrespect - a modular is not an ideal learning space for our students because there isn’t a washroom or any of those other amenities that we have. However we know that because of our numbers, that’s what we have to work with. I’m just asking for specifics - how many we have right now on the go on the ground. We can get to that later. I can ask another question.

Early in January of this year, the government announced that they would be purchasing portable HEPA filtration units for 71 schools that have no ventilation systems. A December 31, 2021 information note we received in response to a Freedom of Information request says: EECD continues to discuss ventilation with Public Health and IWK at this time. No changes have been recommended.

If no change is recommended, why did the department decide to spend $2.3 million on these air filtration units?

BECKY DRUHAN: I want to go back to the modular question for the member. I do have some additional information I can share relating to that question - actually a couple of pieces.

The first thing I want to share is about the distinction between modulars and portables. It’s an important one. Folks of my vintage need to have this explained because my experience when I was younger in the school system with portables was, I think, the experience many of us have. It leaves us with the impression that we have of detached stand-alone units that maybe aren’t always ideal. They’re great for certain circumstances, but not always ideal, and some folks don’t necessarily love those.

The new generation of those are actually modulars. They are a vast improvement and we’ve had really positive feedback when we’ve deployed them and used them in the system. They can be built in a variety of ways and a variety of formats. They can be built with hallways connected together. They can include washrooms and specialized facilities to support students’ learning needs. They are a really useful and beneficial tool as we look at planning for capacity issues in schools and population growth. I did want to mention that.

New purchases are focused on these modulars. For folks who might be picturing the portables of - and I’m dating myself now - a number of years ago, that’s not what the modulars are.

In terms of the question about information on how many of those currently exist within the system, they are maintained and held at a regional level. We can look into what information is available and get back to the member on that.

[5:30 p.m.]

SUZY HANSEN: Thank you for that, minister. It’s good to know that you can include washrooms in these particular attachments. I know of many that don’t have washrooms, and in the Wintertime the children had to leave the portables and go into the classroom outside and all this extra stuff. That is really good; thank you for clarifying that.

I just spoke about the HEPA filters - that’s what you were going to go on to, sorry.

BECKY DRUHAN: Thank you very much for the question. The HEPA filters were purchased and installed to be used in our classrooms and schools that rely on passive ventilation. Passive ventilation is effectively the way air flows when you open windows and doors and have natural circulation and movement of air. This is definitely a legitimate way for airflow to work, but we recognize that in the Winter it can have impacts on comfort.

We heard very clearly from some folks that they would be more comfortable with some additional measures in those schools that have that passive ventilation system. So for the comfort and confidence of those students and families, we did secure the HEPA units for installation in classrooms with the passive ventilation.

This wasn’t something that Public Health required. It was above and beyond those Public Health measures that we put in place. We put them in place at a time when it was chilly and snowy, and we understand that this added layer of ventilation support was something that was welcomed by students and our staff.

SUZY HANSEN: Thank you for that. We know that many of our school buildings are older. This is one of the key reasons why we have asked for greater transparency around the conditions in the schools.

Could you provide an update on water quality and the work to remove lead pipes from our schools?

BECKY DRUHAN: I just want to start by saying that all of our students have access to clean potable water in their schools. That should be obviously a priority, and we have made sure throughout this process to make sure that that was the case.

In terms of the logistics and evaluation of this, the Health Canada guidelines changed for the amount of lead that could be contained. When that happened, testing started in all of the regions, in all schools, to make sure that we understood exactly what schools met the new requirements and which schools required remediation.

I understand that that testing can take place at only certain times of the year, so it’s something that’s ongoing, and that work continues. Based on those guidelines and when this work commenced, the department and regions took steps to make sure that potable water was in place at all schools. That includes installing touchless water stations, which are actually a benefit beyond this. They were a particular benefit during COVID‑19 - in fact, some of the COVID‑19 funding that was received was used to install touchless water dispensers at schools. That will be an ongoing asset and benefit to those schools as we move forward.

Any schools that have not yet been remediated continue to have access to clean water, and that continues to be provided. The regions have plans for the remediation down to the detail of individual taps that need to be replaced. All of those details are available at a regional level. I understand they are posted on the website; that information can be found there. The regions are continuing this work and will continue to do so until all of the remediation is complete.

SUZY HANSEN: Is there any money specifically in this particular budget to address water quality issues in the schools?

BECKY DRUHAN: The remediation work is undertaken, managed, and directed at a regional level. They have their plans with the priorities of how they’re going to address this work. They would be accessing funding that is provided to the region to then use at their discretion. I can’t point to line items within the department budget, because those will be determined at a regional level.

SUZY HANSEN: Does the money come from the provincial government, to be able to pay for those regional costs?

BECKY DRUHAN: Yes, that money would come from the operational monies that the regions receive from the department.

SUZY HANSEN: I thank you for that, and I would love to be able to see how many schools are still in need of clean drinking water that is not just potable water. I’d love to know the numbers. As well, I’d like to know the budget on how much it is actually going to cost this province to be able to make that change to actually having clean drinking water.

BECKY DRUHAN: I appreciate these questions because it’s really important if there’s a perception out there that there’s not clean drinking water at our schools. I want to make sure that I correct that.

There is clean, drinkable, potable water at all our schools across Nova Scotia. Students have access to clean drinking water at their schools. There is still remediation of taps and some pipes that needs to be done, but even in those cases where schools still have work to be done, there is clean drinking water available to our students in all of those places. We can direct the member to the websites where all of that information around the remediation plans can be found.

SUZY HANSEN: Thank you very much for answering those questions. I will definitely follow up, because updating people who send their children to school - they want to know what’s actually going on in their schools. Why they have to drink bottled water instead of drinking out of the tap like we used to is a huge concern.

Hopefully we’ll update as many of the schools that need to be done. I would have loved to have known how much money we’ve actually spent on that thus far, and possibly that we need to in the future. Thank you so much.

THE CHAIR: Thank you. The time is 5:44 p.m. We will now move on to the Liberal Party.

The honourable member for Clare.

RONNIE LEBLANC: Mr. Chair, I want to thank the minister for providing us the opportunity here to ask some questions. I have some questions around the child care agreement, mostly in my role as Critic for Acadian Affairs.

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development clearly indicates an annex to Nova Scotia’s Action Plan for the fiscal year 2021-2022 to 2022-2023 - a new provincial organization will be up and in place by April 2022 to manage all regulated child care in the province. Can the minister provide an update on the centralized organization?

BECKY DRUHAN: We’re really excited about this work to transform child care in Nova Scotia. Part of that is determining exactly what the child care sector needs for support as we move forward, to best support them to be able to spend their time with the children, and be engaged with the children. The central organization, or the support organization - that really is the bottom line of what that organization is supposed to do.

We heard really clearly from our operators that they have questions about this journey, and they have lots of information that they want to share to help us transform child care in a way that best reflects the needs of Nova Scotians. To that end, we are striking an engagement table, and we are doing a lot of work to make sure that we hear all of the voices in the province that have so much expertise and knowledge on the delivery of child care.

We’re really looking forward to the work that we are going to do with that engagement table to understand what sort of supports an organization could provide to those operators to best position them to deliver care to Nova Scotian children. That work will continue, but we want to make sure that it’s informed by our operators and informed by the engagement work that we’re doing.

RONNIE LEBLANC: Part of the reason I wanted to take this opportunity to ask some questions is to follow up on the question I asked in Question Period on March 29^th. Maybe I’ll just ask the question, since some time has passed and see if there’s a different answer.

[5:45 p.m.]

In February, the Centre de petit enfance de la Nouvelle-Écosse submitted a proposal to the department upon meeting with the Minister of Acadian Affairs and Francophonie, proposing the creation of a francophone-centralized organization in addition to the original one created by the department. Early childhood services managed by and for Acadians and francophones are essential to the development of our early childhood in a minority setting. This French-language management of Acadian and francophone centres and other services is essential to maintain, optimize, and continue to increase the number of students at the CSAP.

My question to the minister is: Has she met with the CAPENÉ to discuss this proposal since I last asked the question?

BECKY DRUHAN: One of the pillars of our work in child care and our child care agreement is inclusivity. This really speaks to that pillar and that foundational concept that is driving this work. I very much appreciate the proposal from CAPENÉ, I’m so excited that they are enthusiastic about this work and engaged in this as well.

We recognize and value the role of strong French supports to make sure we really support our francophone and our Acadian learners at the earliest opportunities. This is an important element of the work that we’re doing to make sure that we do that - not only in our education system, but in our early child care education system as well.

I am very much looking forward to moving forward and understanding what options are open. I’ll speak again about the engagement table because this is the opportunity to hear about the needs of Nova Scotians. That’s a big piece of this work, understanding the variety of needs that our communities have. That includes our francophone and our Acadian communities.

As we move forward with this engagement work, we look forward to engaging with and hearing more from CAPENÉ, and I will commit to the member to keeping him up to date on this important work.

RONNIE LEBLANC: From my understanding, the CAPENÉ had been working on this proposal for well over a year, had received funding for it. The department was aware that they were working on this proposal. Again, my understanding is that they were encouraged to do so. The reality, the proposal is written in French.

Has your department had the chance to translate that document? Have you been able to take a look at the details of it?

BECKY DRUHAN: Thanks to the member for the question. We very much value our relationship with CAPENÉ, and I can say they are an incredibly important stakeholder. Staff have been working closely with them and we value the contribution they make.

I can also say that yes, the proposal has been translated and shared. Staff within the department who are working on elements of the engagement table and what central supports may be offered or provided as we move forward with the transformation of the system - they have that, and are working with it.

RONNIE LEBLANC: Do you have any initial talks about the proposal that you could share?

BECKY DRUHAN: I will say it would be premature of me at this time to speak to that question without further engagement with CAPENÉ and further work being done on this, especially considering that we are at the early stages of the engagement work with the broader community.

I don’t have the list of applicants at hand for participation in the engagement table, so I can’t speak to whether members of CAPENÉ may already have made applications, but I will say if they haven’t, we encourage them to do so, because that’s another channel and avenue for providing feedback and input. We look forward to continued engagement with them in whatever form that looks like, and doing this work to support all of our early learners and our francophone and Acadian early learners as we build our new transformed child care system.

RONNIE LEBLANC: Maybe just for some clarification, I’m trying to understand where the proposal they’ve been asked to submit to the department fits in. You mentioned the engagement table multiple times. Is the proposal going to be part of that discussion, or do you plan on meeting with CAPENÉ sometime soon to be able to go over that proposal with them, because a lot of work has gone into that? I feel that some sort of communication should be happening between the organization and your department.

BECKY DRUHAN: I understand your enthusiasm around this. I’ll just say I’m really looking forward to meeting with CAPENÉ and discussing their proposal and the needs that they see that francophone and Acadian learners and students have in our child care system.

In terms of speaking to the specifics of the proposal right now, we’re in the process of a historic transformation of the system, and there is a ton of work that’s under way. The department is doing an amazing amount of work to move this forward and looking at multiple elements of it, and CAPENÉ is absolutely. The proposal and the needs that our French and Acadian students have are a piece of that.

[6:00 p.m.]

I do look forward to meeting with CAPENÉ and discussing their proposal and other feedback and input that they may want to share.

RONNIE LEBLANC: Maybe I’d like to speak a bit about the engagement table. Can you explain the process of application, the deadline, and the number of members that will sit on that engagement table?

BECKY DRUHAN: I love talking about this, because I love engagement. I love the variety of ways that we can have engagement, because I so value feedback that folks have, and the perspective, and the experience.

I will make a little plug at this time for this engagement table just to let folks know that applications can be submitted until Friday. For anyone who is interested in participating, they can submit applications up until Friday. The table will consist of 10 to 18 people from diverse perspectives and backgrounds across the sector. That includes our operators - our for-profit and not-for-profit operators, large and small. It includes families and parents. It includes ECEs as well as other folks who are involved in the system, parents and educators and academics, and really, any stakeholders who have knowledge of and experience within the system.

We’re also looking for diversity of geography and backgrounds as well. We really do encourage folks who have a French-language or Acadian perspective to put their names forward to participate in this. I’m looking forward to having that table convened after Friday, to get to working on sharing ideas as we move forward with this transformation.

I will also say 10 to 18 people will be on the table, but there are lots of other opportunities as well for engagement. If folks either are interested in the table but don’t make that list of 10 to 18, or perhaps think they have things to say and share but don’t want to make the commitment that that table may involve, there are lots of other opportunities to provide feedback and input.

RONNIE LEBLANC: CAPENÉ and the work they have done over the past year - they have been able to organize all the French daycares in the province under one agreement. They have worked on that proposal. I guess the question around the engagement table is, did they get an invitation since that organization represents multiple daycares across the province? If they haven’t received an invitation, are there designated seats around that engagement table for francophones or other minority groups that would like to have an opportunity to have a say in the new structure?

BECKY DRUHAN: I think I mentioned this, but it really does bear repeating. One of the really important things in the striking of this table and in the feedback that we’re soliciting, is that we have diversity at the table. We want representation at the table from a broad array of perspectives and of course, language and francophone, and Acadian perspective falls within that. We definitely welcome folks who have that background and that perspective and experience.

In terms of whether an invitation went out to CAPENÉ, I can say that there were no individual invitations that were sent for the engagement table. It’s an open call, and it went out to the sector. I believe that it was released March 16^th - mid-March for sure - and it went out in English and French. It’s an open call to any stakeholders in the child care sector.

As I mentioned, as well there are lots of other opportunities for feedback. What I hope didn’t get lost - and in case it did, I’ll say it - is that we really appreciate the work that CAPENÉ has done on the proposal. The fact that we’re doing an engagement table doesn’t mean that we won’t be looking specifically at that proposal and the important information and feedback that they’ve included in that. I do look forward at a future time to meeting with CAPENÉ and talking specifically about their proposal.

In addition, if any members of CAPENÉ are interested in participating on the engagement table or other engagement opportunities, we welcome them to those as well.

RONNIE LEBLANC: The Canada-Nova Scotia Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement states an obligation to the official languages, minority languages, that an amount of money should go towards that, I guess?

Has your department identified the amount of money allocated under this obligation to the official languages?

BECKY DRUHAN: I will say that inclusion is a fundamental pillar of this agreement. Hand in hand with that are our obligations under the agreement to the official language requirements. We take that very seriously. Both of those things are very important to us, and we’ll be adhering to the agreement wholeheartedly and happily on those fronts and all of the others.

With respect to individual line items for spends under the agreement, we are in early days still, in terms of our planning around how this will be rolled out. I can’t really speak a whole lot to that at this stage, because it’s just premature at this time.

I will say that funding supports for francophone centres are included under the agreement so for all of our francophone centres the funding recently provided supports the fee reduction and supports their operations ongoing for the coming year.

RONNIE LEBLANC: I thank you for your answers, but I have to admit I feel it raises a bit of concern. If you go through the questions, you have a French organization that spends over a year, encouraged by the department to work on a proposal to bring all French daycares in the province under one umbrella. We have an engagement table which I assume will set out the course for daycare in the Province of Nova Scotia. By law, there has to be some money allocated to address the minority languages.

It’s a bit concerning to me that we find ourselves where this group hasn’t had an opportunity to sit down with the department and have those discussions, but they’re being asked, essentially, to apply to the engagement table and maybe be chosen to part of that table.

My intention is not to be difficult, but to try to make the point that it is important for the Acadian community across the province, be it in Cape Breton or here in Halifax. I would urge the minister to really take those comments to heart, to look at that, and to try to bring in those communities to play a role in setting that course.

Again, it’s more of a statement, but it is a concern. Maybe I’ll just have two or three more questions on a different topic and then I’ll finish up.

Many child care centres have submitted for expansions, and I believe the deadline will be December 31, 2022, for completion, but many of the projects haven’t been approved yet. Is there any consideration of extending that deadline?

BECKY DRUHAN: Thank you to the member for the question. We have an ambitious child care seat expansion planned and programmed in this five-year transformational journey. The first wave of 1,500 new spaces that are being added this year, we’re on track for that. We are grateful to - and really excited to work with - the folks who submitted expressions of interest, and will be included in that first wave of child care spaces.

There’s no extension on that particular timeline, but I will say that we have thousands more spaces to create, and we will absolutely be doing that. There will be lots and lots of opportunities, as we move forward, for other centres to make proposals. There’s a lot of work to be done, and we are really excited to move forward with those expansions. If operators didn’t have an opportunity originally, or weren’t able to submit proposals, there are lots of future opportunity as we move forward on this journey.

RONNIE LEBLANC: Maybe I’ll finish on an update on new schools. Clare is getting a new primary school in Saulnierville. I know the first tender was supposed to go out, I believe, in September. I’m glad to see that it went out earlier last month. I don’t know if you could provide an update on the new school.

BECKY DRUHAN: Thank you to the member for the question. This is a pre-Primary to Grade 6 school. We’re really excited on behalf of the community. We know the community would be excited and is excited about this as well. I understand it’s a consolidation of existing schools, so this will be a wonderful change and update for the community.

[6:15 p.m.]

The tender did go out early last month, but we’ll engage with CSAP. I don’t have an update on timelines at this time, but we’ll engage with CSAP and make sure that the community is updated so that they understand if there are going to be any shifts of the timelines in the development of the school.

RONNIE LEBLANC: I just want to thank the minister for taking the time to answer my questions. I appreciate that, and I’m going to pass it off to my colleague.

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Bedford Basin.

HON. KELLY REGAN: Thank you to the minister for being here and to be patiently answering our questions for the next little while.

First off, I’d like to talk about Rocky Lake Elementary, which is on, surprisingly, Rocky Lake Drive. It was set up as a temporary school because we had so much overcrowding in Bedford because of the continuous development, I would say. The plan was it would stay open until the two Broad Street schools opened, and then they would be able to relieve some of the pressure in Bedford, and one would close. It’s a very old school.

It’s so old my husband attended high school - no, it came after he attended high school. It opened the year after he finished high school, so that’s how old it is. Don’t tell him I said that.

We now have a new date for the pre-Primary to Grade 8 elementary Broad Street school. It’s now been pushed back to 2023, opening at the same time as the new high school, the new Grade 9-12 school. I’m just wondering if we have a closure date or plans announced yet for Rocky Lake Elementary.

BECKY DRUHAN: I understand completely that the community is very excited about a new school opening. It is a really exciting development in the community, and I totally share her disappointment that the timing got pushed back. COVID has been so disruptive in so many ways, and it’s a bit of a gift that keeps on giving, unfortunately, in a variety of areas, and school building is no exception to that.

The opening has been delayed. The Halifax Regional Centre for Education is working on a plan now to address questions around how that will be handled next year, and they will be releasing that plan to the community and to families soon. That will answer some of these questions. We’re really excited for this new school to be built, and for students to be able to access it, but we’re in good hands with the region planning for the interim. We’re looking forward to that update.

KELLY REGAN: Thank you for that. Concurrent with all that planning, we did expect, and had previously indicated there would be a boundary review in the Central Bedford-Bedford South-Bedford West areas into Clayton Park, so that we would know who was going where.

I can tell you that parents are very keen to know this information. I actually had people a couple of years ago who, when they knew we were going to start building the Broad Street schools, wanted to know the catchment area, they wanted to move into the area so they could go to that school. Now no one can afford it anyway, so it doesn’t matter.

There is a lot of interest, and I will just say I’ve heard rumours of a province-wide boundary review. I don’t know if those rumours are true, but I will just say - just as a note of caution to the minister - boundary reviews produce angst like you’ve never seen before among parents because the thing parents care most about is their children.

I just want to ask when the boundary review is coming. If you are planning to do a province-wide one, it may produce more negative feedback than you might be anticipating. I’ll just leave that second point with you. You don’t have to answer me about that, but what I would say is parents want to know when the boundary review is coming in Bedford. Everybody is waiting to know what’s going on.

BECKY DRUHAN: Thanks to the member for the question. Because this is a new school, we understand that it makes the boundary review that much more interesting and makes parents and families that much more curious and eager to have it done because it may represent - well, it will represent a shift in how things are to how things will be. We completely understand how eager the community is to have this done.

I will say that when it happens, there will be public consultation. Families will be engaged, and they will have an opportunity to connect on that.

In terms of the timing, we do know that families are eager for it, but we also want to make sure that we have - I say “we”, it will be done by the region - it’s also important that the region has the best, most accurate, most current and up-to-date information. For that reason, the timing of the boundary will be used. While the community would like to see it as soon as possible, we know the closer to the time of the opening that we can do it, the more current information we’re capturing. It’s a balance.

I can say that the communities and families can expect to have more information from the region about the boundary review this coming Fall and it will be done timely and to support the opening of the new school. We look forward to the region engaging with the community on that.

KELLY REGAN: In the older parts of Bedford, which is pretty much - I represent the northern part of Bedford, which is where some of the older schools are. We have some schools that are older and are showing the effects of many years of love from their students. I mentioned that Rocky Lake Elementary was slated to be torn down before it was pressed into service. Before that it was Bedford and Forsyth Education Centres, but it has moved into Bedford Place Mall.

So now we have, for example, Sunnyside Schools. The Eaglewood campus of Sunnyside Schools - there was a plan that was advanced, and I believe it was during Imagine Our Schools, which was not yesterday. The plan was to rebuild Eaglewood on the same site as the school is now, just put it back further, so that could take place.

I was just wondering if there’s been any call for projects, for renovations, or anything like that. I haven’t seen any new schools announced. Parents are keen to know that this school will be renovated. If a student breaks their leg, and their class is on the second floor, they’re going to have a difficult time. There is no elevator in the school. The second floor is also where the library and the computer lab are. It can make it very difficult for students, or parents, or educators who need to get up to the second floor.

I will say that it’s a great school. It has terrific teachers and leadership, and the parents are very engaged, but it is old. I’m just wondering where we are in terms of renovations on some of the older schools.

BECKY DRUHAN: Thanks to the honourable member for her question. I do get a lot of questions about capital school builds, but I really appreciate this question around existing infrastructure. It’s not one that I’ve gotten recently - or at all, perhaps - but it very much is a reality. We know that we have aging infrastructure across the province in many communities. That is as much an element of our capital planning as addressing the population growth that we’ve experienced to date, that we are experiencing at this moment, and that we are planning for in the future.

Both population growth and aging infrastructure impact our capital planning and our capital needs. Generally speaking, the regions are continuously assessing and evaluating the priorities around those needs, both growth and also the need to refresh and update existing infrastructure.

From a capital planning perspective, periodically, the department will seek input from the regions and will update the capital plan accordingly. When that happens, that’s when we have the opportunity to prioritize and make updates to and funding for addressing both the population-growth needs and that aging infrastructure that you’re speaking of.

KELLY REGAN: So what I’m asking of you is, when that call does go out, I would ask you to consider very seriously the needs of Sunnyside Schools. The school is not set up in a modern way at this time, and parents in the area have been very patient.

[6:30 p.m.]

As we saw population growth throughout the rest of Bedford, I think parents understood the need that those other areas had to come first because they were so congested. I will also note that it is the only location for early French immersion in Bedford. I would just say there is a lot of interest in that particular school.

All of that sort of leads me into my next point. When we were in government, we worked very hard to increase our population and ended up being probably more successful more quickly than people anticipated. Part of that was due to our COVID-19 response and the fact that people knew they could move here and be safe.

I want to make the point that if the population is going to double, we need to be ready to receive people because what is very frustrating for people is when they move here and their kids are jammed into classes with huge class numbers, student numbers, et cetera. I can tell you that when I was first elected, we had a high school announced for Bedford. It was built by the NDP. I repeatedly asked to have it built bigger, and it wasn’t. When that school opened, it was above capacity.

This is an area I represent and the member for Bedford South represent, where we’ve repeatedly seen schools that are congested. What I am saying is, if we are going to meet the doubling of our population, we need to do planning now for infrastructure.

Most recently we’ve seen thousands of units approved for Bedford, which is wonderful and lovely, but we need to be able to provide the services. I literally was told way back when, in the Imagine Our Schools process, that we don’t build schools until we see the whites of their eyes, meaning that we don’t build it and they will come - we wait until they come and then we build it. Of course, with the building timeline, it takes forever.

I just really want to make the point to the minister that she may have to go into her Cabinet colleagues and be very firm with them. That in areas of great growth, we need to ensure that there is adequate infrastructure. That includes schools, to be able to ensure that new families moving in actually have a place for their kids to be sent, for students to be sent.

I would really appreciate the minister’s advocacy on this particular front because this has been - we finally thought we had it under control and then COVID-19 hit, and the population went bang and now there’s going to be all this building as well.

I just wanted to raise this issue with you and ask for your support in moving those along.

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Bedford South . . .

BECKY DRUHAN: Sorry, Chair, I think there was a question there.

KELLY REGAN: I was asking for the minister’s support on adding and upgrading infrastructure in Bedford Basin and Bedford South.

THE CHAIR: My apologies to the honourable member.

The honourable Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.

BECKY DRUHAN: No apologies needed, Mr. Chair, I wasn’t entirely sure there was a question there, so that’s understandable. It may have been a question or a comment from the honourable member, but I do want to respond to it either way.

I can assure the honourable member that we absolutely understand the need for proactive planning for our school and our infrastructure needs. We’re very mindful of that and absolutely on it.

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Bedford South.

BRAEDON CLARK: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have the Bedford team over here on the Liberal side, very exciting. I wanted to be here when the member for Bedford Basin was speaking, just to make sure I didn’t say the same thing twice. Obviously we’re next door to each other, and we have a lot of the same concerns, so I won’t repeat too much of what the member for Bedford Basin said.

I did want to thank the minister for her last comment there, because I do think that in a lot of ways, in Bedford, we’ve found ourselves in a brave new world in the last five to 10 years, where the growth is just astronomical. It’s to a point now where we know that those 10,000 units that were announced a couple of weeks ago are going to get filled up the moment they are able to move in, and then there’s going to be a need for multiple schools as well, so I appreciate those comments.

I wanted to touch quickly on something the member for Bedford Basin mentioned about early French immersion. As she said, the Sunnyside School - it was called Eaglewood when I was a kid - is the only one in the Bedford area that offers early French immersion.

In the past, the member has tabled a petition from parents asking for early French immersion at the new Broad Street school. I’m just wondering if the minister could give us an update if that is a possibility for the new Broad Street school’s early French.

BECKY DRUHAN: Thank you for the question. My children are in French immersion, so I fully appreciate how communities are excited about that particular program and eager to see it in schools.

The programming and the different types of programming that are offered in individual schools are within the sphere of regional centres. They are not department decisions, but decisions made by the regions. I’m not aware at this time of whether a decision has been made around early French immersion in that school, but we’ll follow up with the region and let the member know.

BRADEON CLARK: I thank the minister for that response. I wanted to switch lanes here a little bit. I haven’t been here the whole time that the minister has been questioned so she may have answered this a bit. If so, I apologize.

I don’t know this for a fact, but I think I’m one of the few members in the Chamber who has children in daycare currently. I sent the minister a note the day that the new fees went into place, because I think that’s a huge thing that will make a huge difference for families across the province.

I’m just wondering if the minister could give us an update on how discussions are going, in particular with the private daycare operators and if there’s a sense of when that will hopefully be coming to a successful resolution for everybody.

BECKY DRUHAN: I think I did say this before, but I will say it again: I love talking about this, so I really do appreciate the question. This is such an amazing transformation and I’m thrilled to play a role in it. I know the department’s been doing incredibly great work.

With respect to the specific question on this and how things are going with our operators, I am really thrilled to report that things are going great. Very recently we released the funding agreements for this coming year, and we have operators representing 99 per cent of our child care spaces signing on to that funding agreement. That reflects stable funding to support operations in the coming year. It reflects funding to support and fully compensate operators for their 25 per cent fee reduction, so that doesn’t come out of their pockets or bottom line. It’s funded through the agreement, as well as a grant to support operations for those operators. I’m really excited and thrilled about the uptake on that and what it means for families.

That 25 per cent fee reduction is significant for many families. For a family with a toddler, it’s about $200 a month. I’ve heard stories about parents crying in child care centres when they see their bill, because it means such a significant difference to them and to affordability. It’s a really exciting development on that front.

In terms of engagement with our for-profit operators and all of our not-for-profit operators as well, we will be setting up the engagement table. I made a plug earlier, but I do this whenever I get the opportunity. If there are operators - or anyone else who’s connected with our child care sector - who want to be involved in this work and provide input, feedback and perspective, the call is still open to participate on the engagement table. It’s open until Friday. We welcome anyone who wants to make application for that.

For folks who might be concerned that that’s more time than they’re able to devote, there are lots of other opportunities to provide feedback and engage with this work as well. We welcome all comers and look forward to this collaborative work as we make this huge, important transformation in Nova Scotia child care.

THE CHAIR: The member for Bedford South with 48 seconds left.

BRAEDON CLARK: Forty-eight seconds, perfect. I guess I’ll just use that to speak, then, for 43 seconds at this point - very nice things. I was saying earlier that I am in a daycare five days a week. I agree with the minister. I really think this is a transformative thing for families, for parents, for children.

I was happy to see the engagement table include representation from parents. I actually had several parents reach out to me prior to that just to say, obviously we are a huge stakeholder in this whole process, so we’d love to be involved and participate in the process.

I wish the minister and the department good luck on this process. As I said, I think it’s a great thing for Nova Scotia.

THE CHAIR: Now it’s time for the NDP caucus for the next hour. The time is 6:44 p.m.

The honourable member for Halifax Needham.

SUZY HANSEN: Thank you, Mr. Chair, and to the minister as well. It’s a long evening.

We know that schools are also a key consideration in new housing developments. The special planning area identified in the Indigo Shores development was originally rejected by council due to a lack of available schools in the area. Was the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development consulted in the decisions about this or any of the special planning areas?

BECKY DRUHAN: Thank you to the member for the question. With respect to the specific question around Indigo Shores and the reason why that was rejected, that was a decision of municipal council, so I can’t speak to that decision. It wasn’t a department decision.

What I can say is our government is very mindful of the need to plan proactively for growth. Having this growth is a good problem to have; the genesis is a really good one. It means we have newcomers to Nova Scotia and that’s wonderful for so very many reasons.

[6:45 p.m.]

We are absolutely mindful, as a government, that we need to make strong infrastructure plans - including plans around the development of schools - to support communities and to support families that may move into areas as we see growth in those areas.

I know the HRCE is working very hard to meet current needs, and work to plan for future needs. As I said, it’s a good problem to have and we are working to be proactive about it, but I can’t really speak to the decision of the council.

SUZY HANSEN: Were you consulted before the decision of the council to know that there was going to be development that a school may be necessary in that location?

BECKY DRUHAN: Thanks to the member for the question. No, the department wasn’t consulted in that.

SUZY HANSEN: Thank you very much. If we plan on having new developments being built in areas that may possibly need to have schools or services available to them, schools in particular, do you think the government would be collaborating and connecting with the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development to find out whether or not it is a necessary piece for that particular build or housing locations?

BECKY DRUHAN: Thanks to the member for the question. I think seven or eight months in and there are some practices and lots of engagement between departments and between levels of government that already are in place in relation to planning for these sorts of needs.

I am diligent about looking for opportunities to further that and make better use of those sorts of energies, and make sure that we’re as connected as we possibly can be between departments and levels of government so that we have the best information to make plans.

We have ambitious immigration and population growth plans, and we know that we need to do more in terms of making plans around infrastructure to be able to support that. We’re very mindful of making sure that we find and seek out those opportunities, so we have the best information as we’re planning for school capital builds.

SUZY HANSEN: I’m grateful that that was the answer because I truly believe that working collectively is the way that we don’t waste money and we don’t do things that we have to go back on later.

I’m going to move on to child care. As was mentioned before by my colleagues, ECEs are really important and, as well, child care centres are crucial to most people’s daily lives. Our caucus strongly supports the move to a universal, affordable, publicly-funded child care system. However, the transition needs to be carefully managed. We saw this with the rushed implementation of pre-Primary and how important it is to be working with child care providers, early childhood educators, and families, to make sure that the changes in this system work.

With my understanding of the new transformation of the system and the applications engagement table for the listening in, I think it’s wonderful to be able to have a collective voice around the table to discuss some main points. I do, though, want to go back to January 14^th of this year.

The government made a welcome announcement about lower parent fees for child care, which we all agreed is beneficial, but there were child care providers who didn’t receive it so well. Then a month later, the government announced the change of plans, so we had a number of emails and calls coming into our offices. We made a freedom of information request for all correspondence relating to consultation in the Early Learning and Child Care Agreement between August 31, 2021, and January 25, 2022. The department responded that they did not have any relevant records.

Is it accurate that there was no consultation done by the department with the sector between the appointment of you as a new minister and the announcement of the new funding model in January?

BECKY DRUHAN: Thanks to the member for the question. This is incredible work, and the department has been doing an amazing job at moving this gigantic transformation forward. It’s a long journey. It’s a five-year journey, but there is a ton of work to do in the course of those five years. The department has been doing amazing work to get us where we are and we’re only a few months in at this stage.

I will say that the department has been in regular contact with our child care providers throughout this. They have fantastic relationships with our providers and they’re in regular contact with our providers. The prior government had a different approach, I think, to engagement than I personally do and that I think our government does. There’s been a shift in how we look at engagement and the department has done an amazing job at pivoting to meet the expectations that we have now around what real, meaningful, and broad engagement with the sector looks like.

We heard clearly from our operators that they wanted more engagement. They wanted to provide more feedback, and they had questions they wanted answered. When we heard that, the department quickly responded. We listened and we’re setting up an engagement table and other engagement opportunities to make sure that we have those voices. We all benefit as Nova Scotians from the incredible experience that exists throughout our sector.

We’re really excited to have that engagement starting up and in place. We look forward to the work that we’re going to do together.

SUZY HANSEN: Thank you very much. Did child care operators and educators learn about the changes at the same time as members of the public and myself as an MLA?

BECKY DRUHAN: Mr. Chair, I would ask if the member can kind of clarify what that question is.

SUZY HANSEN: The first question was: Is it accurate that there was no consultation done by the department between the appointment of your position and the announcement of the new funding model in January? So, from when you became elected in August to January, was there no consultation done for this particular funding model for the early childhood child care centres?

BECKY DRUHAN: Thanks to the member for the question. I think I mentioned earlier that the department is regularly and in ongoing contact with the sector. Throughout the course of that time period, the department was absolutely involved with and engaged with discussions with operators within the sector.

Did it look like the kind of broad, formal, extensive engagement table that we’re setting up in the coming days? No, for sure it didn’t, but they were absolutely engaged with the sector and having discussions and dialogue with them.

SUZY HANSEN: Recruitment and retention of qualified early childhood educators has been a long-term challenge. The implantation of pre-Primary intensified worker shortages. Part of the problem has been the low wage floor set by the government.

Is there any money earmarked in this budget specifically to address the need for funding to support increased wages for ECEs?

BECKY DRUHAN: Thanks to the member for the question. This year under the Canada-wide agreement, we have $113 million flowing through to support the child care transformation in Nova Scotia. A portion of that is going to go to the incredibly important work of compensating our ECEs.

Our early childhood educators play such a huge role in the support, education, and care of our absolute youngest learners and it is vital that we compensate them in a way that reflects the value of the work that they do and the important role that they have.

[7:00 p.m.]

We are incredibly excited about this piece of work. We’re on track to have a framework in place for that compensation this Fall and that’s wages and benefits. This is a really important element of the work that we’re doing in the transformation of our child care sector. I really look forward to this element being done and our ECEs feeling the benefit of it.

SUZY HANSEN: I was glad to hear that about wages and benefits - that’s wonderful. Is there also access to pensions within that particular plan or is that something that we need to bring forward later?

BECKY DRUHAN: Thank you, Chair, and thanks to the member for the question.

The work that we’re doing is around the full compensation framework, and it considers wages and all types of benefits. It would be premature of me now to define what that ultimately might look like, but the work is under way now.

SUZY HANSEN: Can the minister provide us with a total number of trained early childhood educators in the province and the number of those currently working in the sector - a breakdown of how many are in licensed child care centres, and how many are in pre-Primary classrooms? That would be super helpful. If it’s not now, it can be later. I would just like to know the numbers.

BECKY DRUHAN: Thank you to the member for the question. These are rough numbers, but in licensed child care centres we had approximately 2,400 ECEs as of December of 2021. In our Pre-Primary classrooms, we had approximately 875 in March of this year. There may be other ECEs in Nova Scotia working either within the sector in unlicensed areas or working in other areas. I don’t have information on that.

SUZY HANSEN: Thank you. How are high-need areas being identified for the creation of new child care spaces? What types of criteria are being considered?

BECKY DRUHAN: To put it basically, we know where our licensed child care centres are, and mapping those child care centres gives us a picture of Nova Scotia and where the child care centres exist, and where there are gaps. In those areas where there are gaps, we have areas underserviced.

Not to say that those areas don’t have child care, because we have lots of unlicensed smaller homes that provide care throughout the province. When we look at licensed care, we can map them based on where we know they are, and then we can focus on those areas where we see those gaps.

SUZY HANSEN: Moving on, I’m going to talk about school food - our favourite. Where in the budget would we find investments in the school food programs, as was mentioned by members in the House earlier today - school breakfast programs or lunch programs? Also, can the minister provide the amount of investment, as well as a breakdown of how specifically that money is allocated?

BECKY DRUHAN: School food is a really important issue. We know that our students need nutrition for their physical health, for their mental health and their ability to come to school and learn. This is vitally important to us. I will say that our educators and our administrators do an incredible job of being mindful of this in meeting our students’ nutritional needs when they see gaps, to ensure that students are able to be there and have a meal in their bellies if they didn’t.

There’s a variety of ways that funding flows through to our schools and our regions to support that work that they do. The primary way would be through the School Healthy Eating Program - that’s SHEP - and that’s funded by the Department of Health and Wellness in conjunction with the Department of Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development’s contribution on that is $1.7 million. The Department of Health and Wellness’s contribution on that, I believe, is $1.975 million.

That would be the primary way that funding flows to schools to support nutritional needs. There are some other ways in which funding flows to schools that may get used for the support of nutritional needs, and those include SAC funding that flows through our regions’ budgets. They also include the Student Support Grant, which goes to schools, and then finally includes the Healthy Schools Fund as well, which we announced last year and is $2.1 million a year.

SUZY HANSEN: I just want to be clear. The primary part, $1.7 million from the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, and then the secondary part of those three pieces - the SAC, which is volunteers, and administration and teachers volunteering; student supports, which is the Student Support Grant - is that a total of $2.1 million for all three of those pieces, or is that just $2.1 million for the Healthy Schools grant?

BECKY DRUHAN: Thanks to the member for asking for that clarification. Each of those three programs - the SAC funding, the Student Support Grant, and the Healthy Schools Fund - those each are $2.1 million per year. It’s not $2.1 million for all three, it’d be $6.3 million per year.

SUZY HANSEN: How many staff are funded by the department to deliver the school food programs?

BECKY DRUHAN: This funding flows to the regional centres. They use that funding at their discretion, to make the best use of that funding to support this work. The administration of this is a shared responsibility among a variety of staff at the regional level.

SUZY HANSEN: As the minister, do you think it’s reasonable to expect school food programs to be delivered by volunteers and rely on charitable donations for food, or utilize the grants to be able to do that when we could be doing it as a food program universally?

BECKY DRUHAN: I will say that the folks who are involved in these programs and the folks who are involved in providing nutrition and food to students in schools take incredible pride in the work they do. They do an incredibly good job of providing that food and delivering these programs.

As well, I think there is a real local element to many of these programs. If you were to go from one community to the next community and look at what they have in their schools for food programs, they vary widely. They reflect the needs of the community, the needs of the students, the skills and talents and the geography of the communities. We have some school programs that have gardens and rely on their gardens. We have other school programs that are addressed in different ways.

It really is a system of really engaged, enthusiastic people who see a need and are meeting that need in a way that reflects local perspectives, attitudes, needs, and also skills and strengths.

SUZY HANSEN: I just want to say that, if COVID-19 has taught us nothing, it has taught us to learn to adapt. We know that one size does not fit all, so I think this would be a really good, cool opportunity for us to take a look at all of the options in front of us and make some really good, informed decisions on food insecurities that are happening within our communities, and especially within our schools.

Just think about it. Ponder it. Figure out a plan. It can happen, and it doesn’t have to look the same all the way around.

In the election platform, there was a promise to “revisit/revive/ resurrect/recommit” - I’m not going to say all four of those words again; I’m just going to say the four Rs - to the report from the Commission on Inclusive Education “with proper input from the disabled community” and implement the recommendations. The budget includes “$15 million more to continue implementing the recommendations from the commission.”

Which specific recommendations are being implemented, minister?

[7:15 p.m.]

BECKY DRUHAN: Thanks to the member for that question. Absolutely, my mandate and our platform included a commitment to implement those inclusive education practices so that our students feel safe, included, and valued in their schools. We are absolutely committed to taking action on that. As outlined in my mandate letter, in the coming months, we will be coming out with a report on the status of all of that work.

In terms of some of the things that are under way, I can say that there is an ongoing financial commitment to a wide variety of individual support staff who provide supports to meet the variety of needs that our students have. That is an annual investment of $75 million, with the addition of another $15 million this year to support that ongoing staffing. In addition to that, we also have professional development, which supports our teachers and our educators to be able to adequately and effectively use all of those supports.

One of the things that I’ve been doing - it’s in my mandate letter, and it’s something I say often - it’s so important to hear from the people who are working on the front line of the system to know what a system needs, so as part of the work that I’ve been doing, I’ve been sitting in on staff meetings with our schools. I think I been to maybe 12 or 13 of those so far and have had the opportunity to talk to hundreds of teachers through that and other channels.

One of the things that that I’m hearing from teachers is that they don’t yet really know how to access all of those amazing resources that have been brought into the system. Part of that is because we’ve spent the last few years really focused on COVID-19, and as we’ve added these resources to the system, we just haven’t had the opportunity to educate and support our educators to understand who those resources are, what their skillsets are, and how they can really be implemented and utilized in the classroom to give great supports to our students.

That professional development is going to be a really key factor in making sure that these supports are all well utilized. We’re looking forward to making more progress on that as well.

SUZY HANSEN: Thank you so much for that. I noticed that when we were sitting in the House, we discussed some programs specifically with the autism spectrum disorder. Will this be a part of the budget - work on inclusive education be done within this particular budget?

BECKY DRUHAN: Absolutely. As part of the ongoing investments that we have in the supports in the system to support inclusive education, there are a number of supports that provide specialized support to students with autism, and also specialists who have that also within the scope of their supports. They include autism and behaviour specialists, resource and behaviour specialists, supports, psychologists, educational assistants. There’s a variety of supports that already exist in the system. The additional $15 million that is going to adding supports into the system, there will be additional supports added under that, that will be able to support students with autism.

SUZY HANSEN: The Black Learners Advisory Committee Report - the BLAC Report - was published in 1994, and the achievement gap which exists with African Nova Scotian and Indigenous students was raised in both the Glaze Report and the report from the Commission on Inclusive Education. Both these reports made recommendations that were made in the BLAC Report 25 years ago.

Count Us In: Nova Scotia’s Action Plan in Response to 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. Is there any money in this current budget to support this work?

BECKY DRUHAN: Thank you to the member for this important question. I want to say that meeting the needs of our African Nova Scotian partners is absolutely a key element of our commitment to inclusive education. It really is an important part of the work that we do. I can say that there’s funding and supports in a variety of places for that work.

Since we were just talking about our Inclusive Education Policy funding, I’ll start there. We have identified this year an additional $15 million to support inclusive education supports; that’s additional staff to support our inclusive education needs. That is along with the existing and ongoing $75 million that goes to staffing those positions.

Those positions include our student support workers, who support our African Nova Scotian learners. There are support workers, as well, for our Mi’kmaw learners. I don’t have the numbers at hand for how many of those support workers are within the system now but I can certainly get those for the member.

I’ll say as well that we provide funding through a variety of channels to organizations to do research on and to support us in working towards achievements and success for our African Nova Scotian learners. That’s an element of the funding and the work that we’re doing as well.

SUZY HANSEN: I wanted to just put that out there because, as we know, there are a number of recommendations that have been put forward by many different reports. In the BLAC Report, specifically, only 30 of the 37 recommendations were ever started and none of them have been fully implemented. I just want to keep that on your radar because, as we know, that was 25 years ago and we are still trying to catch up.

Another recommendation in the BLAC Report that is repeated in Raise the Bar or the Glaze report is a need for a coordinated workforce strategy to identify, recruit, and retain teachers, specialists, and educational support staff in the communities that need them, with particular attention paid to increased diversity in teaching and educational leadership programs, particularly African Nova Scotian and Mi’kmaw teachers. What action has the department taken on this particular recommendation?

[7:30 p.m.]

BECKY DRUHAN: There are a variety of ways that we in the system are focused on enhancing and expanding the diversity. We recognize the incredible importance of our students seeing themselves reflected in the teachers and in the staff, and the importance of having that diverse perspective brings to having an education system that meets all of the needs of all of our children. This very much is a priority, and there are a variety of ways that we work to fulfill that. I’ll reference a few.

At a very local level, in terms of school hiring and regional hiring, that’s all done at a local level. Al of our local regions have clauses in their agreements around hiring to support equity hiring and to encourage and support that to happen.

I will say as well that within the inclusive education positions that I was talking about a few minutes ago, which encompass the ongoing $75 million annually and the additional $15 million that we’ve added this year, there are a number of positions within that funding that are identified as equity positions, and again to support diverse hiring to make sure that we have that diversity reflected in the staff that we hire. There really is very much a focus on this.

This year as well, we’re really pleased to add to our African-Canadian Services Branch and our Mi’kmaq Services branch, to each of those branches two new FTEs to support the incredible work that they do within the department to support our regions. I’ll mention as well, it’s not just a matter of hiring and our hiring practices and decisions, but it’s also about making sure that the people have the opportunities and the education to be able to do this work, so to that end it’s really important as well to focus on and make sure that we have supports to help people through that educational experience. We offer scholarships as well to support that diversity and that equity so that people are well prepared to take positions within the regions and within the department.

SUZY HANSEN: I’m just going to say a few things briefly. When we talk about the equity hiring positions and as well the $15 million for funding support for those other positions like the student support worker - I know there are a number of African Nova Scotians student support workers, but I will say in general that I’ve seen line by line the pays of a number of these staff members. I will tell you that most of them work two jobs because they are paid very low, and I would hope that some of that budget would be implemented into some of their wages, because it’s a lot to ask for those types of workers.

Do we have any data that would indicate improvement in the diversity of the teachers and staff in our education system? I know that within the education system, we love collecting data. It doesn’t have to be right now, but I’d love to be able to see some data on the changes and how we’ve moved the pendulum to have a little bit more inclusiveness and - I don’t want to say diversity, but for African Nova Scotian teachers, to make sure that they have opportunities to be hired within our system.

BECKY DRUHAN: Thanks to the member. I’ll say that for the vast majority of these positions that we’re talking about, the RCEs are the employers. They hold that information.

There’s work under way to encourage and collect information for people who self- identify. I want to commend the NSTU as a real champion of this work, and partner in this work. We are working with them as well to ensure that in this process we are not creating barriers. That was kind of a long answer but the short answer for the member is the department will look into what information is available on that and will share with you what we have.

SUZY HANSEN: The Africentric Cohort Program at Auburn Drive High School in Cole Harbour started a few years ago and it has been very successful, which I really know a lot about. What plans does the department have for establishing Africentric streams in other schools?

BECKY DRUHAN: Thanks to the member for that question. That’s a great question. I’ve heard fantastic things about the work that has happened at Auburn Drive under Karen Hudson who, I believe spearheaded this. It’s really exciting to see school networking in action.

Prompted by that work and motivated by that work we are also seeing this happen at Horton High in the Valley. It will be really exciting to see how that evolves as well. I’m hearing great things about the work that is being done there.

I will say that these are RCE level initiatives, so these are initiatives that happen locally in our regions. This sort of synergy that we’re seeing between Auburn and Horton is a really good example of how that networking can work to expand on programs that are beneficial.

SUZY HANSEN: I just want to know if there is any specific funding provided by the department for staffing or materials for this particular cohort.

BECKY DRUHAN: This is really about a configuration of classes and using the resources that exist within the schools in a different way to support those needs, so there’s no additional funding that’s provided or that’s needed. It’s a matter of deploying the resources that we already have and in a specialized way to support these individual needs.

SUZY HANSEN: I just also want to point out that specific additional funding is provided to schools that offer IB programs and the O₂ program. I must have missed it, I apologize, but did you say there was no funding attached to the Africentric programming?

BECKY DRUHAN: Yes, that’s right. There’s no additional funding for this. It’s about using the existing resources in a different way, so the Africentric approach is utilizing resources that exist within the schools and applying them in a way that meets these needs.

SUZY HANSEN: So additional funding is provided to schools for IB programs and O₂ programs, but not for Africentric learning?

BECKY DRUHAN: We have a variety of different programs throughout the system that don’t rely on or need extra funding. In this case, with the Africentric programming, we’re delivering the existing programs in a way that’s just configured differently. That’s very much unlike the IB and the O₂ programs, which have really specific requirements and require entirely different resources.

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Sydney-Membertou.

HON. DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m just going to ask a couple of quick questions and then actually give it back to my colleague from the NDP, because she’s got a binder full of questions there, and I don’t want her to lose the opportunity to ask some of those important questions.

Minister, good to see you and the staff again. My question is around skilled trades. I know there’s been some work around expanding into schools and looking at enhancing those programs. Something we talked about during my time there was looking at the expansion of those programs to start including some of our Cleantech when it comes to exposing students to green energy options.

As I said yesterday, one of the programs that we were involved with was signing the 10-year deal with the Mi’kmaw communities to retrofit homes in the community, and we always said it would be a great opportunity for students within those communities to learn these trades in schools. Is there any conversation around moving away from the more - I shouldn’t say “moving away,” but expanding on the more traditional trades programs that we offer, to bring in clean energy options to expose students?

BECKY DRUHAN: Thanks to the honourable member opposite for the question. There are sort of two areas of focus of that question - skilled trades and environment are key areas of my mandate letter and key areas that infuse the mandate letters of many other ministers in this current government because they are huge priorities of our government.

For reasons that almost don’t need to be stated, the environment has high priority. Supporting our population and our students to be shepherds and stewards of the environment is an important part of the work that we do and need to enhance on in our education system.

[7:45 p.m.]

As well, supporting our students to understand the options that are available to them in skilled trades and to be prepared to move forward with those options is another really important element of the work that we’re doing. There’s a lot of work being done in both of these areas and in the overlap that exists within these areas.

To answer a specific question that is whether we’re looking at skilled trades in a broader lens, yes, absolutely. We need to do that and we are doing that sort of opening eyes and perspective to what options exist within skilled trades. There is a focus on, and we’re exploring options around, clean technology and green energy programming and how we can better prepare our students and educate our students in those areas.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: Thank you, minister, for your response. It’s a huge opportunity for our students. I come from a generation where the big focus was on university and the undergraduate degree. We want to expose all of our students to trade opportunities, too. It’s a great career path for folks, but I think that there’s a huge opportunity in solar and heat pump installation and windmill construction. All of these things that we know that jurisdictions are going to spend billions of dollars on. We can start now and our school system can really kind of be the lead on it. I don’t know if there are other jurisdictions that are looking at that right now or not.

I will move away from that. I’m going to move into the home of my heart, Cape Breton, and talk a little bit about some of the infrastructure in the community there. What I was happy to see was that school construction seems to be on pace in Waterford. That’s an awesome project. That’s a kind of a first-in-Canada model when it comes to health care and long-term care in our schools.

Also, Northside and Glace Bay were important and the decision to purchase the P3s at Shore Park and Harbourside both in Sydney and The Pier were big decisions. So you don’t foresee any issues - all those schools are still on par to be built? That would be my question. Just an update.

BECKY DRUHAN: We share the excitement of the community with these new schools and are fully committed to moving forward with them. We’re really happy and excited to see the progress on them. Breton Education Centre in particular is really innovative. We share the community’s excitement about what that will bring and how it may inform new opportunities in how we build schools and partner with other services, so that’s a really exciting project.

We are committed to all three of these. As I’ve said before when I’ve been asked about our capital projects in two years leading to COVID-19, all building and capital projects and infrastructure projects have been impacted. Supply chains have been impacted by the effects of COVID-19. The school and education system is no different, so there may be impacts to individual projects. As those become known, the regions will be communicating directly with the communities and with families so they are the first to be made aware if there are any impacts arising from that.

I’ll come back to what I said at the beginning, which is that these projects are proceeding and we share the communities’ excitement.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: That’s great to hear. I’m sure the honourable member for Glace Bay-Dominion is happy to hear that as well. I know how much the school means to the community of Glace Bay as well. The school is a long time coming.

Speaking of schools, I believe you were asked this before, but I’ll ask it as well. A discussion came up today in the Legislature during Opposition bills that were being introduced. It was something that was in my mandate letter when I was there, and that’s a lunch program. That was an important aspect for the former Premier and for me.

I know the department was looking at that, essentially from the day we started during my time there. I still believe that a fully funded lunch program is important. It was something that I used to joke about with one of the staff members in the department - I think I asked him every day when I came in how the lunch program was coming.

I just want to hear your thoughts. Is that work continuing that was started to implement that program?

BECKY DRUHAN: Thanks to the honourable member for this important question. Nutritionists are vitally important to our learners - we know this. We know that nutrition is important for their physical and mental health and well-being and for laying a foundation for them to be able to come to school and learn.

This is something that our system prioritizes, our schools prioritize, our educators prioritize. We have a number of ways in which we provide food through schools. The primary program that exists is SHEP, a program that is funded by both the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Wellness, in partnership together. Under that program schools have the ability to tailor the programming, based on the needs of their schools.

We see that schools have breakfast programs under that. There are also lunch programs that are administered through SHEP. I would have loved to inherit a provincial lunch program, but that doesn’t exist within the system now. I can say that the schools are mindful of their local needs and their students’ needs, and when students need food, there are a variety of mechanisms that are in place to support them to get the nutrition that they need.

I have been really excited about the federal mandate letters and the focus at a federal level on a schools food program. Do we do a lot? We do do a lot. Do we have really dedicated, passionate people who are focused on this to make sure that students have the food they need? Absolutely? Do they take pride in that? We all do. Do we meet local needs, and do we adapt local skills and local opportunities? All of that does happen. Can we do more, and can we do better? Absolutely.

This is something that’s really important to me and to the department, exploring ways in which we can improve on what we do now. I’m really excited and looking forward to the opportunity to explore what may exist in support at the federal level, and what ways we can improve this to better meet the needs of our students.

DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: That’s a lot to take in. I’m just going to assume that a fully funded lunch program is not part of your mandate, which I think is unfortunate, because that’s where our kids are, and it’s something that I know was worked on. It was being talked about and discussed.

That would be something that I’ve been advocating for and will continue to advocate for. The will was there, and the need is there, and quite frankly, whatever government, the funding can be there to have a fully funded program. We expanded our breakfast programs, which was so supported by so many in the community. We know our kids are in school and it takes so much pressure off the organizations that are helping so many other people. So I am disappointed to hear that that is not going to go forward.

I will finish there, but I will pass it on to my honourable colleague from the NDP, who has a number of other questions, for the next few minutes. Again, minister, thank you, and thank you to staff.

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Cape Breton Centre-Whitney Pier. It is now 7:58.

KENDRA COOMBES: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have some local questions, but first I want to make a comment. Minister, you mentioned that there might be changes to timelines and builds and that local RCEs will keep people informed. I’m hoping that the MLAs and local representatives will be part of that circle to be informed, so that when questions come to us, we can actually answer them. That has not always been the practice before, in my time here.

I have some questions from the community. Greenfield Elementary School, which is located in River Ryan, is at capacity and are now using the modulars to handle the overflow. I’m wondering if there’s a plan in place to resolve this issue, or are modulars just going to become the norm?

[8:00 p.m.]

BECKY DRUHAN: I don’t know if the member was here earlier when I spoke about the difference between modulars and portables. If not, I do want to touch on that again. It was certainly an education for me, so I think it’s important because people often kind of conflate the two. I’m not sure whether Greenfield Elementary has modulars or portables, but there is a clear difference. They are both tools that can be used, as we see fluctuations in populations and school capacity. They are tools that can be used in different ways.

At times we have fluctuations that are projected and that will continue and that we need to look at longer-term builds for. At other times we have fluctuations that may be more transient and something that is a more temporary option. It is actually something that we need to use to meet those needs or, for example, if we’re waiting for a local build at a nearby school, we may need to use one of those temporary options, the modulars or the portables, to bridge that gap.

I’m not saying that any of these things necessarily are the case at Greenfield, but I just want to provide that context because it is really important to know what these things are, and when they are used. They are both tools and they are different. When we talk about portables, this is what I reflect back to when I was a child and we had additional spaces added to our school.

The new version of that, the modular, is a much more updated version that meets a broader variety of needs and provides a much longer-term solution and that we’ve actually had really positive feedback on. Modulars allow us to configure a space in a variety of ways and meet specific learning needs. We can put washrooms, we can have them built with washrooms. We can have hallways and connect them together. They do connect with the school, so they are a really flexible and useful tool that we’ve heard really good things about. I just wanted to provide that context for the member.

I don’t have details on Greenfield Elementary right at hand, but we can follow up with the region. I will say that the regions look at the projections of population and capacity, of anticipated students, and make decisions around capital planning and around what needs to be done in terms of modifications to the schools to reflect that. We can connect with the region to get more details for the member on that.

KENDRA COOMBES: I appreciate that, minister. With the high volume that I just mentioned within Greenfield Elementary, has the government taken into consideration that high enrollment when the plans for the new Breton Education Centre, which also services the area for Grade 6 to Grade 12, was being designed, to make sure there were enough classrooms? There was that concern that residents had in the community.

BECKY DRUHAN: With respect to the projections that were done in the planning for the Breton Education Centre, I can say that I understand that the region went through a number of exercises and did a lot of analyses looking at enrolment to ensure that they were planning for and building for the community’s needs now and into the future. We are confident that that school is positioned and designed to meet those needs. This is something that the regions have experience in doing.

I will also say that we want to make sure that if there is a need to expand in the future, that the school is designed and built in a way that will accommodate that with as little impact and expense as possible. This is a question that I had as we embarked on builds as well because it’s an important piece of the planning for building a school.

With the Breton Education Centre, we’ve ensured with the Department of Public Works that if we do see unexpected enrolment changes in that area that do require additional space, that we’ll be able to accommodate that.

KENDRA COOMBES: That’s great to hear and I’m sure that’s a relief to those in the community who had those concerns. We look forward to the new build.

I want to switch to busing. I’m not going to go too far in depth, and this might be a question for the RCEs: Is there consideration when we talk about busing? Grades Primary to 1 have to live within 1 kilometre and Grades 6 to 12 must live within 2.4 kilometres of the school. Do we take into consideration rural areas that do not have sidewalks, the speeds of the roads, and sometimes the fact that sidewalks take about 48 hours after a storm to be plowed when we are looking at those busing needs of students?

BECKY DRUHAN: In relation to busing, I can say that there is a provincial policy that exists in relation to transportation. It’s that policy that sets those distance criteria. It was before my tenure, so my understanding is that that was updated fairly recently, in 2020.

In the course of that update or that refresh, I’m advised that there was a lot of discussion around those different conditions around the province. We’re very well aware that road conditions and the experience of students travelling to school differs very much from one community to the next, from rural areas to urban areas - those inform the development of that policy. That’s the policy that really guides those distances that the member referred to in terms of busing.

I will say as well that it’s a provincial policy but the implementation of that policy and the implementation of busing, as the member mentioned in her question, it is managed and implemented by the regional centres at a regional level.

Just a few comments on how that looks, I can say that the regions are constantly monitoring routes to make improvements. There are folks within the regions whose role in transportation includes looking at the routes on an ongoing basis, and not just at the beginning of the school year. That’s throughout the course of the school year and making adjustments, as needed, to reflect conditions and requirements.

I will say as well that at a regional level, there is a mechanism for appeal if a particular family has concerns or issues with decisions around busing of their children or students. That’s another option available if a family has concerns around anything in relation to the busing and the route that their students have to travel to school.

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Halifax Needham.

SUZY HANSEN: With the few minutes that I have left, I’m going to try to plow through these questions. How many teachers have left the profession each year for the past five years?

BECKY DRUHAN: Thanks very much for raising this question. I think sometimes there is a public perception or assumption that there is a high rate of attrition amongst our teachers and amongst our educators. The reality is we don’t see that - we don’t see a lot of teachers leaving the profession early. I don’t have the specific numbers - they are held at a regional level - but that is absolutely the feedback that we’re hearing from regions and that is what we see. It’s not a high number.

However, that being said, anytime somebody leaves their profession sort of earlier than the natural trajectory of their career, that presents an opportunity for us to better understand the ways in which we can improve our system, improve working conditions, and do everything we can to retain our educators.

For that reason, one of the pieces of work we are undertaking within the department is to do exit surveys with all the teachers who do leave, to really fully understand the reasons behind that and use that information to inform system improvements. That work is under way now and we will be having someone conduct those exit surveys and interviews to help get us access to that information.

SUZY HANSEN: I have a question from the member for Halifax Citadel-Sable Island, and I want to make sure I get it in before we finish the day. Does the province have plans about what to do with the current CSAP school École Mer et Monde on the site of the old Halifax Grammar School, when École Mer et Monde moves into their new facility?

BECKY DRUHAN: We share CSAP and the community’s excitement about the new school that’s being built. What I can say about the École Mer et Monde is that the Province did secure that space so that there was a place while the new school was being constructed. There are no plans for the use of that facility at this time going forward. It’s a provincial asset and it will be available for use after the opening of the new school.

[8:15 p.m.]

SUZY HANSEN: At the end of the last school year, the Halifax Regional Centre for Education eliminated unassigned instructional time. This is the time for the school day teachers had to prep and do supervision duties, provide student help, and collaborate with other teachers. The NSTU president said that the union had presented HRCE and the former minister with data about the importance of this unassigned time to pandemic safety, as well the positive impact it has on student attendance and achievement.

Does the minister intend to restore UIT for all teachers in the province? If not, what evidence is the department using to support the decision to eliminate it?

BECKY DRUHAN: I want to step back from the question and say, we want our teachers teaching, and the best place for teachers to be is in front of our children. The two buckets of time that best support our teachers to do that work - to be present and engaged and prepared to deliver education to our students - are instructional time and planning time. That’s really our focus, and that’s where we want our teachers spending their time.

With the last collective agreement, I can say that we increased our planning time from 10 to 12.5 across the province, and that’s a really important change. Teachers may have used that unassigned instructional time for planning time, but it’s not planning time, and it could be used in a variety of ways and did get used in a variety of ways.

Sometimes it got used in ways that didn’t have teachers planning or being in front of students. For example, if that time was used in student supervision, we’re much better positioned to have staff hired to do that supervision and have those teachers focused on planning and being in front of their students. That’s really the direction that we’re looking to go in.

For those approximately 17 schools - the HRM high schools that were impacted - I’ll say that our focus continues to be, across the province, on that teaching time and on that planning time because that’s really where our teachers need to be focused to best support our students.

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Sydney-Membertou.

HON. DEREK MOMBOURQUETTE: I’ll end it there in regard to questions from both caucuses and pass it back to you, Mr. Chair, so the minister can make closing remarks.

THE CHAIR: Thank you. Before concluding the consideration of the Estimates for tonight, I invite the minister to offer any closing remarks.

BECKY DRUHAN: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to thank every child, student, parent, guardian, teacher, educator, principal, administrator, early childhood educator, and everyone else who puts their best effort forward every day to meet the needs of our students and to deliver and improve on education in Nova Scotia. Our work isn’t over. It’s never over. We will always strive to improve education in this province.

Nova Scotia has made great gains and our future is bright. There’s more work to be done, but together we can create the best possible start for Nova Scotians so that they can have the best possible future. Thank you.

THE CHAIR: Shall Resolution E6 stand?

Resolution E6 stands.

            This meeting of the Subcommittee of the Whole House on Supply is now adjourned. We’ll take a five-minute break, and we’ll start again at 8:27 p.m.

Thank you, minster, and thank you everyone.

            [8:22 p.m. The committee recessed.]

            [8:29 p.m. The committee reconvened.]

THE CHAIR: The Subcommittee on Supply will come to order. It is now 8:30 p.m. The subcommittee is meeting to consider the Estimates for the Department of Environment and Climate Change, as outlined in Resolution E7:

Resolution E7 - Resolved that a sum not exceeding $37,901,000 be granted to the Lieutenant Governor to defray expenses in respect of the Department of Environment and Climate Change, pursuant to the Estimate.

THE CHAIR: I will now invite the minister to make opening remarks for up to one hour and, if they wish, to introduce their staff to the committee.

HON. TIMOTHY HALMAN: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good evening, everyone. I’m very pleased to join you this evening to provide opening remarks for this year’s budget for the Department of Environment and Climate Change.

Joining me this evening are the Deputy Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Lora MacEachern; the Executive Director of Financial Services, Mike O’Brien; our Associate Deputy Minister and Lead on Climate Change, Jason Hollett; and our Executive Director of our Climate Change Division, Nancy Rondeaux.

With us as well is the Executive Director of Policy and Environmental Assessments, Lorrie Roberts. We have the Executive Director of Sustainability and Applied Science, Andrew Murphy; the Executive Director of Inspection, Compliance and Enforcement, Adrian Fuller; and our Executive Lead on the Coastal Protection Act, John Somers.

I will work with them this evening and over the next couple of hours to answer your questions. I certainly look forward to the conversation that we’ll have.

Mr. Chair, our mandate at the Department of Environment and Climate Change is to protect our environment, to protect human health and the welfare of farm animals, and to mitigate and to adapt to climate change. Through legislation, regulation, and enforcement we work to support a clean and healthy environment in Nova Scotia, transition to a clean economy, address the climate crisis, and guide the province towards a sustainable and clean future where all Nova Scotians can thrive.

Our vision is a brighter, greener, more equitable future for Nova Scotia. A future with more vibrant and healthier communities. A future where we are welcoming new people and new opportunities.

Our mandate touches every Nova Scotian. Protecting our environment means protecting the things we share: clean air to breathe, safe water to drink, our land. Protecting our environment means protecting public health and helping Nova Scotians to convert to energy efficient housing and cleaner heating for their homes. It is about protecting where and how we live today while passing on a safe, healthy, and sustainable province to our children and our grandchildren.

I am the public face of the department, and I am accountable for policy direction and the decisions that are made. I work with a dedicated group of 323 talented professionals whose work is making a positive difference in the lives of Nova Scotians every day. They are inspecting restaurants, cafeterias, food trucks, the abattoirs across the province, to ensure that our food is safe.

They are responsible for public health and for protected areas. They are investigating complaints about mistreated farm animals, about air quality violations or illegal spills into waterways. They help to ensure that tattoo and piercing establishments provide safe services. They grant permits for wetland alterations and water withdrawals. They review environmental assessment applications and industrial approval packages, and they enforce 21 pieces of legislation and more than 60 sets of regulations.

They develop policies to protect the environment, to reduce solid waste and to help Nova Scotia maintain its position as a leader in mitigating and adapting to climate change. They issue directives, warnings, compliance orders, summary offence tickets, and in some instances help to prepare for court cases.

For much of the pandemic they were on the front line, at our borders helping to keep Nova Scotians safe. I want to take this opportunity and express my gratitude to the staff for the outstanding work they have done under very challenging circumstances. We need to acknowledge that the Public Service of Nova Scotia has done an amazing job for Nova Scotians - not only at my department, but throughout all our government departments.

Mr. Chair, they are leading our province’s work to respond to the climate emergency. Therefore it is only fitting that I take some time to thank the staff at Environment and Climate Change and recognize them for the role they play in protecting the health of Nova Scotians and our environment. I have a great team. I am sure, Mr. Chair, you can tell that I am very proud of them and the work they do to serve Nova Scotia.

The most pressing issue facing our province and people around the world is climate change. Nova Scotians are feeling the impacts of this every day - more extreme weather events and stronger and more frequent storms. We are experiencing warmer Summers and milder Winters and we’ll experience more intense rain in shorter periods of time, increasing flood risks that can impact everything - homes, businesses, roads, and farmland.

Our communities and homes are being impacted by more flooding and erosion. Our oceans are getting warmer and are getting more acidic. We are seeing more blue-green algae in our lakes. Our projections show that temperatures in the 2050s will be 2.6 degrees warmer than in the 1990s.

Nova Scotians are concerned about climate change, and rightfully so, and are concerned about its impacts on our communities, our livelihoods, the environment, and our way of life. A poll conducted by Narrative Research this past January shows that 85 per cent of Nova Scotians are concerned about climate change and 81 per cent of Nova Scotians want action. They feel that urgent action is required.

Therefore, Mr. Chair, the task before us is quite clear. We must act now, and we must act with urgency - not just the provincial government, but communities, municipalities, the business sector, and all Nova Scotians. This sense of urgency is why we wasted no time in introducing the Environmental Goals and Climate Change Reduction Act. This piece of legislation is the foundation to guide the government’s response to ensuring that Nova Scotians have equitable access to a healthy, safe, and sustainable environment. The legislation has 28 goals to be implemented by 12 government departments.

The first step in addressing the impacts of climate change is understanding the risks and what it is we need to protect. Nova Scotia’s last climate change risk assessment was 16 years ago. We are finalizing a new climate risk assessment for Nova Scotia. It will provide vital information about how climate change is impacting us now, and how it is expected to impact us in the future. We must first understand our vulnerabilities so that we can plan the appropriate actions.

We’ve analyzed historical data and climate modelling to create a regional picture of the future we are trending toward. The climate data tells a concerning story for Nova Scotia. There is a lot of risk, but there is also a lot that we can do. With scientists, government, business, and communities working together, we can reduce further damage by mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. We can plan and invest in adaptations to prepare our province and ensure the well-being of Nova Scotians. As I always tell my children, the future is ours to shape.

Understanding what to expect in the coming years and decades is step one. Next, the climate plan will lay out the detailed actions we must collectively take to meet our greenhouse gas reduction targets to help our province respond to climate change and its impacts. Our response is multipronged. It will include reducing emissions, continuing to price carbon, decarbonizing our economy and energy sector, transitioning to clean, renewable energy, and mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change.

I look forward to sharing the risk assessment and the climate plan with Nova Scotians later this Spring.

Mr. Chair, we know that good planning requires good data. Our work with CLIMAtlantic will help guide future decisions. This regional centre is helping the Atlantic Provinces, researchers, industries, and communities interpret and use climate data and identify what additional data is needed in the future.

I want to touch on our emissions target of a 53-per-cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels by 2030. Some have said it should be higher. It’s important to remember that that target is a floor. It’s a foundation, not a ceiling. Nova Scotians can have confidence that the Nova Scotia government is committed to exceeding that target. Last Fall during the 26^th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, or COP26, Nova Scotia was invited to join the Race to Zero campaign. We accepted the invitation to show that Nova Scotia is fully committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 and to contributing to the international effort to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.

The health of our communities, the well-being of our people, and the competitiveness of our economy require this quick and bold action to build a more sustainable, resilient future for Nova Scotia. However, the government cannot achieve these goals alone. Success will require every Nova Scotian to make choices, to change behaviours, and commit to doing the work to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

While climate change is a serious issue with tangible threats, responding to it also offers opportunities. In fact, tackling climate change, driving innovation, and creating jobs and economic opportunities go hand in hand. Responding to climate change offers us opportunities to build more climate-resilient infrastructure, improve access to clean air and water, leverage the opportunities of the clean, green economy, make our homes more energy efficient, and improve health outcomes.

[8:45 p.m.]

Together, I believe we can seize the opportunity to drive prosperity, create jobs, and build the clean energy economy of tomorrow. In my time as minister, witnessing the convergence of innovation and opportunity has been quite inspiring. While we have enormous challenges ahead of us, we also have enormous opportunities.

Mr. Chair, on Monday, as many of us are aware, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - the IPCC - released its latest in a series of reports on climate change. This was the third report, which focused on solutions.

I’ve had the opportunity to discuss this report with my staff. It’s a sobering discussion, it’s a sobering read. Although it’s not surprising what’s in the IPCC report, it shows that greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise and need to peak by 2025 to limit warming to 1.5 degrees. It is a stark reminder that we must work together with increased resolve if we want to have a sustainable, healthy, and prosperous future for our province.

The IPCC report makes it clear that there is an alternative, but for governments, the private sector, and every Nova Scotian to step up and work together to adapt to mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis. With every fraction of a degree in global warming, climate change impacts will intensify. It will be hard to get off fossil fuels and make the strategic investments necessary to transition to a clean economy. I emphasize that it will be challenging, Mr. Chair, but it is achievable.

Success will also mean significant changes in behaviour and lifestyle, changes in how we live and work. I often talk to my children about how, no doubt, society and the economy will be quite different when they are my age. All change comes out of necessity, and we are witnessing that right now in many jurisdictions in our attempts to mitigate and adapt to the realities of climate change.

Mr. Chair, if anyone knows their history, Nova Scotians have solved big problems before and I believe we can do it again. In Nova Scotia, we are leaders in greenhouse gas emissions reduction and we have the strongest 2030 reduction target in the country, as well as a net zero target by 2050. We have a climate plan coming out that will show how we will meet these 2030 targets and we will do more than our fair share in the national and global effort. We view our targets as floors, not as a ceiling, and we will take every opportunity to exceed these targets.

Four departments are in the process of developing a comprehensive department climate adaptation strategy: Environment and Climate Change; Agriculture; Natural Resources and Renewables; and Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage. They are working hand in hand with industry and communities to also develop adaptation plans for seven sectors, areas like freshwater resources, coastal parks, electricity, archeology, and the cattle, sheep, Christmas tree, and horticultural industries. Just the other day I recall listening to my colleague, Mr. Morrow at the Department of Agriculture, outlining a lot of this.

The Department of Environment and Climate Change coordinates this initiative with significant time investments from industry and communities. Efforts will need to support those most vulnerable as we care for each other and the environment. The government of Nova Scotia wants to ensure that we create a better tomorrow while improving the quality of life for all Nova Scotians today.

Mr. Chair, we know that pricing carbon is an effective tool that is used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions - a tool that we must continue to use as part of our response to the climate change crisis. The federal government mandates that all provinces and territories must price carbon, and it is requiring stronger carbon-pricing systems beginning in 2023 for the 2023 to 2030 period.

As many are aware, Nova Scotia launched a cap-and-trade carbon pricing program on January 1, 2019, in response to federal requirements at that time. It ends December 31, 2022. I know many of my colleagues have questions about whether cap and trade will continue, or whether Nova Scotia will take a new path to meet the federal requirements. The short answer is this: no decision has been made.

We are currently looking at all options on the best approach for us to meet the new federal requirements while also helping to meet our emission-reduction targets and transition to clean and renewable energy. This analysis is still ongoing. The federal government knows that Nova Scotia is fully committed to doing our part to reduce emissions and make our environment healthier and cleaner. The federal government also has confidence that Nova Scotia remains committed to pricing carbon pollution. We will send them our carbon-pricing plan later this Spring. We will communicate the path forward to Nova Scotians as soon as a decision is made.

Since cap and trade was launched in 2019, the auctions have generated $73.7 million in revenue. This money has been invested in programs that help Nova Scotians, that help our communities and businesses, and industry, adapt to climate change and transition to a lower-carbon economy. In 2021-22, two auctions generated $44.9 million for the Green Fund. We have invested this revenue into 13 initiatives that support work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, generate renewable energy, and help put more electric vehicles on our roads.

For example, $2 million was provided to Housing Nova Scotia to upgrade 53 public housing units to make them more energy efficient. These retrofits will improve the building performance while also making the units more comfortable and healthier for residents. The Clean Foundation received $2 million to be spent over three years to extend its Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (BIPOC) and Mi’kmaq Energy Training Pilot, which trains people from under-represented groups to become energy advisors and clean energy tradespeople. People with these skills are in high demand in our province. These, Mr. Chair, are the jobs of the future.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Clean Foundation and I have to say how impressed I was with the overview they provided to me and my colleagues and my staff in the programming that they’re offering. It’s remarkable work that’s being done by the Clean Foundation.

Efficiency One received $4 million for three programs - $1 million for the Apartment and Condo Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Program, which will put more smart charging stations in new and existing condominiums and apartments; $1.5 million to help more Nova Scotians switch from oil to electric-based heating systems; and $1.5 million to allow churches, food banks, and other registered non-profit organizations to apply for funding to install solar panels through Efficiency’s SolarHomes for Not-for-profits Program.

Through the Green Fund, we also invested $15 million to establish the Sustainable Communities Challenge Fund, which will provide grants that support communities with their climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives. The added benefit of these investments is the impact they are having on building a new generation of businesses focused on clean energy technology.

Mr. Chair, more than 370 local businesses work on Efficiency Nova Scotia projects and they employ about 2,500 Nova Scotians. Over the past 10 years, through energy efficiency programming, Nova Scotians have saved more than $1.4 billion in energy costs and low-income homeowners and tenants have saved $263 million on their energy bills. I truly believe that when it comes to these investments, we are making a significant difference.

One of the most susceptible to the damaging impacts of climate change is our coastline. We are already experiencing more coastal flooding and erosion that threatens homes, cottages, and businesses. Our 13,000 kilometres of coastline is on the front line of the climate change crisis. Much more of it will be vulnerable to the impacts of climate change in the coming decades. That is why we must work together to protect our coastal ecosystems, our coastline, and new construction along it, from the increased erosion, coastal flooding, and tidal surges that climate change will continue to bring.

Nova Scotians value and depend on our coastline. It’s natural to want to live near the water; Nova Scotians have done this for generations. Preparing for climate change means we need to ensure construction in coastal areas is located up high enough, back far enough from the water to be safe from sea level rise in storm surges, and from coastal erosion.

We also need to protect our coastal ecosystems. They are critical habitats for fish and wildlife. They absorb greenhouse gasses and help protect inland areas from ocean waves that contribute to coastal erosion. Many of these systems such as salt marshes, estuaries, and barrier beaches are resilient because they have the space to shift and to adapt. We need to make sure we avoid unnecessary interference with the natural, dynamic nature of our coast.

With the Coastal Protection Act regulations, we will change where we build along the coast places that are safer from coastal flooding and erosion and where it is less likely to interfere with coastal ecosystems. Our predecessors in government passed the Coastal Protection Act in 2019. This was a bill that we supported because it is vital to protect our coastline. We owe it to future generations of Nova Scotians to do this.

The consultation on the proposed regulations began before I became minister. However, it remained ongoing last Fall because these regulations are important, and they will make a positive difference. I can share that most of the respondents recognize that climate change will pose significant challenges for Nova Scotia, and that is important to ensure that development along the coast is safe from sea level rise, safe from coastal flooding, and safe from erosion.

These consultation results were consistent with what the previous government heard when they consulted in 2018 to develop the Coastal Protection Act. The feedback highlights that we need to balance protecting our coastal ecosystem while still allowing development to take place in safe places on the coast. We also know we must minimize any additional administrative burden to municipalities and to individual landowners.

We will continue to work with municipalities, the Association of Nova Scotia Land Surveyors, Engineers Nova Scotia, Geoscientists Nova Scotia, and the Mi'kmaq to finalize regulations. Our goal is to have the regulations and the Act, which is not yet proclaimed, to take effect in 2023.

Mr. Chair, we’re also experiencing the impacts of climate change in our freshwater lakes. Hailing from the City of Lakes - and to my other colleagues as well - this is not only an important topic to those from the City of Lakes but to all Nova Scotians. Our freshwater lakes are a true gift to Nova Scotia. We know that blue-green algae is causing lake water to become warmer and is contributing to the increase of cyanobacteria blooms, otherwise known as blue-green algae. Cyanobacteria is naturally occurring in fresh water. It happens when the weather is warmest. This is not unique to Nova Scotia.

[9:00 p.m.]

I know the increase of these blooms is concerning to Nova Scotians, especially as they can produce toxins that can cause illness in humans and be fatal for pets. Warmer water and hot, dry periods followed by large rainfalls and subsequent runoffs are favourable for blue-green algae.

Mr. Chair, the reality is that we can expect to see blooms more frequently, even in our most pristine lakes. We’ve been asked why we’re not treating lakes for blue-green algae. The reality is that it can grow in any fresh water, depending on the weather and the availability of nutrients to feed it. There is no practical method of treating it, unfortunately. However, Nova Scotians can be mindful when using fertilizers near lakes and rivers or letting soils erode near them. Keeping our shorelines naturally vegetated helps as well.

We all need to be aware of the potential presence of blue-green algae and blooms in our lakes and take steps to protect ourselves. Blue-green algae blooms move around, they reform and recur, so the best protection is to be informed. Knowing what to look for allows people to be watchful and keep their families and pets away from potential harm. We provide information on our website on how to identify blue-green algae, its causes, and actions to take or avoid when it is present.

Mr. Chair, this year we will also run a public education campaign to create greater awareness of blue-green algae, what to look for, and what to do if it is present. Blue-green algae is a nuisance, but it is a reality in a changing climate. What’s most important is that we are blessed with beautiful lakes and rivers in Nova Scotia, and we need to work together to protect them and use them safely. With the right information I know that Nova Scotians can make good decisions and protect themselves, their families, and pets from harm. I am confident that we can live safely with blue-green algae with good public education.

Mr. Chair, a reliable supply of quality drinking water is essential to maintaining the health of Nova Scotians, as well as community and environmental health. We have committed through the Environmental Goals and Climate Change Reduction Act to develop provincial water quality objectives to guide activities that can affect water quality and can be factors in the occurrence of blue-green algae.

Provincial water quality objectives represent the maximum allowable concentration of a substance in a lake, river, or aquafer. They will set clear expectations for the water quality we want to achieve and maintain the activities we regulate.

Water quality objectives can also be used to guide land-use decisions that affect runoff. This work will help us set clear goals for water quality in lakes and rivers and be accountable to achieving them. Of course, as I’m talking about water, Mr. Chair, I am going to take a moment to have a drink.

I was pleased to designate the French River watershed as a Protected Water Area earlier this year. This designation will help meet the needs of the people of Tatamagouche, enhance their quality of life, and support economic growth in this area. We know that about 50 per cent of Nova Scotians rely on wells for their drinking water. We recommend that wells be regularly tested to ensure that the water is safe and not harming the health of people who consume it. Yet surveys have shown that most Nova Scotians do not test their wells.

One of the goals of the Environmental Goals and Climate Change Reduction Act is to address and mitigate barriers Nova Scotians face in the testing and treatment of rural wells by 2026. In support of that goal, we are designing a project to test the effects of various interventions that might improve testing rates.

Mr. Chair, we have also committed to review and update our ambient air quality standards by 2025. We are blessed with relatively good air quality in Nova Scotia. However, air pollution impacts the health of our people and environment and that impacts the health care system and our economy.

Our government’s focus is on solutions for the priorities that matter most: taking care of our people, rebuilding our economy, and reimagining our province’s future. Updated science-based ambient air quality standards help advance these priorities. Our department has completed a review of our ambient air quality standards and we are now preparing to engage stakeholders in the coming weeks.

Mr. Chair, building a circular economy and reducing waste, including litter, is critical to reducing our carbon footprint and mitigating climate change. The Environmental Goals and Climate Change Reduction Act calls for the creation of a greater circular economy through actions such as expanding extended producer responsibility programs and reducing the use of single-use plastics.

One of the first actions we took after passing the Environmental Goals and Climate Change Reduction Act last Fall was to expand Nova Scotia’s extended producer responsibility programs, commonly referred to as EPR. We began targeted consultation in January on EPR for printed paper and packaging as well as for batteries, lighting, and additional electronics.

Extended producer responsibility is successful in reducing solid waste, extending a product’s lifecycle and making it easier to reduce, reuse, and recycle. It makes the producers of goods responsible for their products. When industry and business lead the way in designing products with the environment in mind, we all benefit. These conversations have also turned our attention to how commonly these items are found as litter.

Part of our discussions with stakeholders includes requesting input on how regulations could also support litter reduction efforts. The targeted engagement on EPR will close on April 11^th. To date, we have received valuable and insightful feedback that will be used to help shape the new waste management model for Nova Scotia. We look forward to continuing to work with municipalities, academia, ENGOs, service providers, Divert Nova Scotia, the business community and other stakeholders to create the best possible EPR programs for Nova Scotians.

Mr. Chair, EGCCRA also has a goal to reduce single-use plastics. EPR for packaging single-use plastics and paper is one step we can take. Nova Scotia has also seen success with the bag ban that our predecessors implemented. Early results are showing significantly fewer single-use shopping bags in our waste stream and as litter in Nova Scotia. For now we are focused on plastic bags, but the Plastic Bags Reduction Act gives us the option to regulate other single-use items in the future.

We are keeping an eye on actions of the federal government in considering banning other single-use plastics. We are also collaborating with our colleagues across Canada to address single-use plastics more broadly. Phases 1 and 2 actions on the Canada-wide Strategy on Zero Plastic Waste are under way. They aim to reduce plastic waste and pollution and recover the value of plastics through reuse, repair, remanufacture, refurbishment, and recycling.

Mr. Chair, we all see the harm that is being done to our province by litter. As minister, I intend to change that. Litter is an eyesore that affects our pride in where we live and how visitors and newcomers see us. More and more studies are considering the effects of microplastics on humans and wildlife. It’s also a wasted opportunity. In a circular economy, those materials littering our landscapes and our waterways are instead reused or recycled.

My mandate letter tasks me with making Nova Scotia one of the most environmentally friendly jurisdictions in North America by introducing new legislation that will further deter littering by increasing fines for littering violations. Work has already begun on this important legislation, and we plan to introduce it within the next year.

Mr. Chair, land and water are among our province’s most valuable resources, providing multiple benefits for people and the economy. They provide the food and nutrients that make our agricultural areas fertile; they protect the biodiversity and natural ecosystems that are critical to the health of our province, our planet, and our climate; they provide habitats for a rich diversity of wildlife, fish, and birds; and they absorb and store carbon and release oxygen, helping us to fight climate change.

We all know that spending time in nature or along our many beaches and coastlines is good for our bodies, our minds, and our souls. Land conservation is essential for Nova Scotia’s environmental health, economic growth, and our prosperity. We live in a beautiful part of the world and part of what attracts people to live here are our trails, parks, beaches, lakes, and wilderness areas.

Our government’s vision is to protect more of our land and water and, in doing so, to yield more of the benefits that they provide to Nova Scotians. Acting boldly on conservation and biodiversity is central to our plans for climate change.

Mr. Chair, about 12.8 per cent of our land and water mass is protected. Our goal is to increase that to 20 per cent by 2030, a target enshrined in EGCCRA. At this time, we are focused on designating the sites in the 2013 parks and protected areas plan. Designating a site for protection takes time. There’s a great deal of work that must be done such as surveying and consultation. Some of the sites in the 2013 plan require consultation and boundary review, work that has been under way for several months now.

As outlined in EGCCRA, Minister Rushton and I will develop a joint protected area strategy by the end of 2023. Achieving 20 per cent conservation will include areas of importance identified by Mi’kmaw communities and we will support work to create Indigenous protected and conserved areas in Nova Scotia.

Mr. Chair, we are fortunate in Nova Scotia to have many organizations doing outstanding work to protect our natural areas. Organizations that are highly regarded, provincially, nationally, and internationally for their conservation leadership, such as: the Nova Scotia Nature Trust, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, Ducks Unlimited, Unama'ki Institute of Natural Resources, the Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq, Sespite'tmnej Kmitkinu Conservancy, Eskasoni Fish and Wildlife Commission, and the Municipality of the County of Cumberland.

Earlier this year, the Nature Conservancy of Canada announced a new private land conservation area that is protecting approximately 1,100 hectares of mature Acadian forests, wetlands, and lake shoreline in the Upper Ohio area. This is their third largest land acquisition in Nova Scotia and I want to congratulate the Nature Conservancy of Canada for their commitment to protecting the province’s important natural areas.

Earlier this year, Nova Scotia received an additional $1.5 million from the federal government to support our work to protect more natural areas. This federal funding was provided through Canada’s Target 1 Challenge fund and was in addition to the $14.3 million we received from the federal government in January of 2020. The federal funding is being put to good use to help us protect more of the land and water that Nova Scotian’s want preserved.

Just recently, we acquired eight privately owned properties for protection, totalling just over 400 hectares. Once designated, these properties will contribute to our 20 per cent target. The sites are spread across HRM, Shelburne, Cumberland, Guysborough, and CBRM.

[9:15 p.m.]

The Nova Scotia Nature Trust has used previous funding from this program to buy 40 hectares of land at Plaister Cliffs in the UNESCO Bras d'Or Lake Biosphere Reserve. It connects two parcels of land in the provincially protected MacAulay’s Hill Nature Reserve, which is home to a rare and fragile karst landscape that includes rock formations and drainage systems considered threatened in Nova Scotia and rare in North America and globally.

I want to thank our conservation partners for their leadership and vision, for their work in improving the quality of life for Nova Scotians, helping to protect species at risk, and fight climate change. I look forward to making announcements about new parks and protected area designations later this year.

Mr. Chair, conservation officers play a key role in safeguarding our province’s provincial parks and protected areas and the sustainable use of Nova Scotia’s natural resources. They investigate activities such as illegal harvesting and hunting and they patrol these areas to ensure public recreational activities are undertaken safely and responsibly.

Nova Scotians want our natural resources protected and managed, a commitment that is at the heart of the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables’ mandate. Bringing the work of conservation officers under the department reflects how their important work aligns with that department’s mandate to preserve our natural resources, protect our forests and wildlife, and allow Nova Scotians to enjoy the outdoors in safe way.

Conservation officers already work closely with the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables’ staff and in many cases they share the same office space. This change in reporting reflects the close relationship that conservation officers have with the broader department team. They will continue to do the same important work in the offices where they are currently located.

The transfer of the conservation officers to the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables is reflected in our budget as a decrease of $5.8 million and 59 FTEs. Conservation officers will continue to work closely with the staff at the Department of Environment and Climate Change and they will continue to play a critical role in safeguarding the province’s protected areas. I want to take this opportunity to thank our conservation officers for their dedication and outstanding contribution while working with the Department of Environment and Climate Change.

As a regulator, I am accountable to protect our environment, human health, and the welfare of farm animals. The Department of Environment and Climate Change has a dedicated professional staff working on the front lines to help fulfill our regulatory obligations. They are public, health, and environment inspectors and their work is based on science, evidence, and facts.

Mr. Chair, I take my role as regulator very seriously. I know that sometimes Nova Scotians may not agree with the decisions that are made, but they can always have confidence that my decisions are based in science and evidence, are without bias, and are made with the advice of highly qualified subject matter experts. Nova Scotians can have complete confidence in the integrity of our regulatory process. Effective environmental regulation is essential to protect our environment and people from possible harm and to ensure that companies operating here reduce the risks that their operations may pose.

Protecting our environment and economic growth go hand in hand. The health of our environment and economy are inextricably linked. We are committed to balancing sustainable economic development while ensuring our communities and environment are protected.

We have an effective environmental process in Nova Scotia, but we want to make it even stronger and more effective. My mandate letter requires me to review and modernize the environmental assessment regulations. This is a goal we have also included in EGCCRA. Updating this process will strengthen its ability to support the greening of traditional industries and emphasize the connection between the economic, social, and environmental well-being of the province.

The review will consider many things, including cumulative impacts, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and Netukulimk in climate change. This work has begun and will continue in this fiscal year with research, options, and analysis.

Mr. Chair, my role as regulator also obligates me to ensure all Nova Scotians are protected from environmental harm. As the regulator, and as human beings, we must treat all Nova Scotians fairly and in an equitable manner so that we do not repeat the mistakes of our past.

We all know that Nova Scotia has a long history of environmental racism. That continues to cause great harm and trauma to the Mi’kmaq, African Nova Scotians, and others whose voices are too often not heard. We must do better and ensure every Nova Scotian has equitable access to a healthy, safe, and sustainable environment, and equal protection from environmental harm.

One of the actions that we committed to in EGCCRA was to create a panel to address environmental racism by the end of 2022 with recommendations to address the harm caused by the end of 2023. Again, I want to thank the honourable member for Halifax Needham for advancing that very, very important amendment to EGCCRA.

Mr. Chair, we’re working with the Office of Equity and Anti-Racism Initiatives on work to develop options for this panel including researching similar initiatives in other jurisdictions. I will also examine the department’s legislation, regulations, and decision- making processes to ensure equitable treatment of all communities and that consultation opportunities are available to all Nova Scotians.

We are taking action to create a cleaner, healthier, and more just environment that will benefit all Nova Scotians.

THE CHAIR: Minister, the time, the four hours is up for this evening. You still have some time that will be allocated for you, should you wish, when we return to subcommittee tomorrow.

It’s now 9:20 p.m. and the House is set to adjourn at 11:59 p.m. That concludes the subcommittee’s consideration of Estimates for today. The subcommittee will resume consideration when the House again resolves into a Committee of the Whole on Supply.

I ask you to please return to your seats in the Legislative Chamber. The Committee of the Whole House must rise and report before the House concludes its business for the day. I understand that the committee is still going next door until about 9:29 p.m.

The Subcommittee of the Whole on Supply is adjourned. Thank you.

[The subcommittee adjourned at 9:22 p.m.]