Caroline Cochrane

I am a little bit shocked. I am wondering if the MLA has more information than I do, because I didn't know that we were having a new campus in Yellowknife at this time. We are still working with the City of Yellowknife to define if that is a brick and mortar or if it actually is building on what they have already. So those decisions have not been made, and my commitment has been to work very closely with the municipal government to determine that need. Like I said, the first couple of years are around planning, and the definition of what headquarters looks like or where it will be will be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, I think that the first thing to do, actually, was to hire the person to actually become the associate deputy minister, would be the first priority, and that is what we focused on. Actually defining where the headquarters are, we spent a lot of time, Mr. Speaker. I went to the three communities, Inuvik, Yellowknife, and Fort Smith, a total of three times. I met with the community counsellors there. I met with public meetings. I spent a lot of time, and I heard clearly, I heard clearly, that students and staff see the benefits of all three communities, and I see the...

Currently, it doesn't have a cost of living index included into it. This is just the start of the program. We have increased the threshold. We have increased the amount. We have looked at it on more of an equitable basis, so based on communities that have a similar cost of living.

Once this season is over, this summer, then we will be doing a review of it again to make sure, but I cannot stress enough. I take heed of the Member from Nahendeh stating that many seniors do not even reach this. I mean, $56,000 for the lowest zone is quite a bit of money, although you can struggle on it. So if you...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Education, Culture and Employment regularly reviews programs to make sure they are still meeting the needs of people; in this case, seniors in our communities. We recognize that there was a need to expand our program because we weren't subsidizing people who had rental accommodations; we were only subsidizing homeowners. In my personal opinion, oftentimes, not always, but oftentimes homeowners are often at a financial advantage to people who have to rent. Not always.

So we expanded it so that we could include renters, and we increased our income...

Education, Culture and Employment is supposed to be actually providing as much, the best, customer service as possible. I cannot say that every single person is always doing that, but the direction is that they should be very consumer focused, and they should be, actually, if there are seniors who are struggling financially, they should be talking about all of the options. So, if they are accessing this program and their income is low and they are still in need, then my hope, and I will look into that, is that they should actually be referring people and saying, "Would you consider income...

What I do know is that not all seniors actually got less money. It is that some of the regions, the higher zones, zone 3, actually, had an increase because their cost of living was substantially higher than, I'm going to say, it is a lot higher cost of living in Tuktoyaktuk than it is in Yellowknife or in Hay River. I hate to say that, but that is the reality we face.

This program actually extended it so more seniors can actually access the program. Not all seniors, but it was based on looking at comparable communities to see what their cost of living factors were, market baskets, and defining...

Sometimes, in honesty, I think that sometimes we work too slow. Then I have to remind myself I only got this portfolio in April. I won't even have an actual year until it is finished, but I think we are making a lot of progress. What can be done? The person will be hired as our associate deputy minister. Our overall vision statement for the Northwest Territories and for the polytechnic will be done in this Legislative Assembly.

The funding formula is reviewed on a regular basis. We try to work with our school authorities, school bodies, to make sure that it meets their needs, as well. In saying that, though, some things are addressed as the needs come up. For example, just after I assumed this position as Education, Culture and Employment Minister, when it was brought to my attention by the MLA from Nahendeh, who stated that we only had one teacher in small schools, that was an area of concern for me, and so I moved on that quite quickly to actually make sure that we have a minimum of two teachers in every single...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How does the funding formula work right now? Right now, we provide money for schools to be able to provide services for JK to grade 12. It does have a funding formula that we feel is equitable, but it does also permit flexibility for the local decision-making that needs to be done by authorities.

Some of that is able to be flexible, such as our territorial school of monies. We also provide administration monies, but some of it is actually being changed, that it needs to be spent for things such as inclusive schooling and the Aboriginal languages. Those have to be spent...

I apologize if I was incorrect, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe that I had said that MLAs don't speak for the people. They do speak for the people, but I also need to hear directly from the education bodies. They are my partners. I fund them. They are responsible for providing the services to the students. So I need to make sure that that relationship -- the Minister before me worked hard on developing relationships. I need to carry that forward. We need to get it to a place where they actually feel comfortable to come to me as the Minister and say, "We have concerns."

Like I...