Caroline Cochrane

Okay. I am going to really try because, you know me, I like to talk. What is a polytechnic university besides Aurora College right now? A polytechnic university is actually really hand-on learning. It looks at taking in practicum plus the academic learning with that. So what it gives us that it does not have at Aurora College is that Aurora College is limited because it is a college. They have partnerships that can access university monies, but they don't actually get that money themselves. I don't know this money. It came out in a city report. I believe that it said that there was, like, $500...

I think that I have been called many things since I have taken this position. However, I have not been called "easy" and I have not been called "lazy," so I am not looking for easy answers out. I am doing my job as a Minister, and that means protecting all people in the Northwest Territories, in all communities. As stated, I see benefits in all three communities. Climate change is affecting our northern communities more so than Yellowknife. Not to say it's not affecting Yellowknife, but it's affecting them more so. Would that not make sense to study there? If we are going to do ENR programs...

Once that person is hired, which I will be announcing, again, later on, the implementation plan will take place at that time. Again, we have committed. I have said that we will take that person, they will located in Yellowknife so that we can work very closely with them over the next couple of years, but the question still remains, Mr. Speaker: do we need to move every single position out of Fort Smith, at this time, into Yellowknife? Do we need to move the finance? Do we need to move aspects of that? Those are questions we need to look at more in depth. Also, it cannot be about one community...

As stated earlier, we will be doing a full review of the program. This was the first year that we have implemented the changes, so we will be doing a full review in the summer coming up here. Yes, if it makes sense. We try to work closely with the Seniors' Society, recognizing we don't ask every single senior in the Northwest Territories, but we do try to work with the society that is in charge of representing them to do this. We will work closely with them and we will look at it.

One of the things that is noted, though, is, when we only moved litres, there are a lot of seniors in small...

We tried to look at it more in a fairness and equitable manner, because I couldn't really justify how the funding was provided beforehand. We used a market basket figure to look at how the communities are, so looking at similar costs between communities of the cost of living to define how we would do it.

In zone 1, a person who is making $56,000 or less is entitled to an annual amount of $2,700 a year. In zone 2, someone who is making $64,000 or less is entitled to $3,600 a year in fuel subsidy. In zone 3, which is our most isolated communities, someone making an annual income of $73,000 or...

I am trying to remember back if that was actually because, again, I was allocated this portfolio in April, and so I am trying to remember and I will have to get back to the Member on whether that was just before I took over or just after I took over, but it was fairly soon that it came up. I do know that they work closely with the Seniors' Society. I don't know who the other stakeholders were, but I will find out that. Again, stating that we are doing a full review of this program in the summer after this one year is finished.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will have to get back to the MLA on that and actually get the actual facts on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Like I stated earlier, the funding formula is based so that it is equitable. There is money for administration et cetera, but there is money that is provided for the number of children in the schools. However, they are allowed to use that with some flexibility, and, therefore, some schools do decide to hire additional teachers; other schools decide to use it for other areas. There are also other monies besides, that come from the GNWT. A lot of the schools in the territory have access to our Canada's Jordan's Principle, which is providing additional monies for them. We need to get more schools...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to start with recognizing, again, my nephew Jeremy Beauchamp. It looks like he might be trying to take my seat here in the House. I am glad to have him. Then Suzie Napayok is the translator in Inuktitut. She lives in my constituency, so I am glad to see her. She is also is a great writer of books, with traditional knowledge from her culture, so a great asset to the Legislative Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is kind of a sin to hear that schools feel threatened and that they feel that they have got to hold onto their money and have a surplus to meet their needs. My background was in the NGO world, and surpluses were a luxury that we never actually got to use. If we had seen it, we spent it as soon as we got it. I really want education bodies to know to use their money. We are not going to dry up; we are still going to provide funding.

Some of the work that is going on right now is I meet with the education bodies a couple of times a year. When I have gone to those meetings, they have all been...