Charles Dent

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Good morning, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, in June of this year, communities throughout the Northwest Territories honoured their high school graduates. At the time these events were taking place, members of education authorities and educators told me that this was a banner year in terms of the number of students meeting graduation requirements. Now that the official numbers are in, I can confirm that, indeed, graduation levels were higher during the 2004-2005 academic year than they have ever been.

For reporting purposes, graduates are counted as of September...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm not sure that…I think we're going half way. I'm saying that if the school is offering a full-day kindergarten program, based on our curriculum, it is my goal to make sure that we're able to offer the funding to support that programming. We don't provide the budget right now. We don't say to a school, you have to have a librarian; we don't say that you have to have a computer specialist. Those decisions are made locally. The schools themselves determine whether or not they want to have those positions, and whether or not they want to use PTR funding in order to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, clearly, one size doesn't fit all. We have a number of different options in different communities. In some communities, the adult educator and the principal of the school work together to provide different types of programming, so that it's not all the same sort of curriculum. In other communities, there's more of a challenge to get the community to work together. But it is up to the adult educator and the college to work with the community, and the expectation is that they will work with the communities, to determine what is most appropriate for delivery in...

Thank you, Madam Chair. On my left I have Mr. Mark Aitken, who is the director of the legislation division for the Department of Justice; and, Mr. Mark Cleveland on my right, who is the deputy minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member has asked for my opinion as to where the building should be, and it's not really mine to give an opinion on that. I can say, though, in response to one of his questions, there were a number of different alternatives considered. One was the space right beside City Hall. Members will be aware that the city council rejected the old Gerry Murphy site, or a site near the old Gerry Murphy Arena, as a possible location. The WCB looked at assembling land in the downtown core, and they had some discussion about space off of School Draw. So there were a number of...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. I’d like to thank the committee for this opportunity to discuss Bill 4, An Act to Amend the Education Act.

The key objective of the amendment to the act is to allow division education councils to offer full-day kindergarten programs. The Education Act currently specifies a maximum allowable number of hours of kindergarten instruction equivalent to a half-day program. The changes proposed to the act specify a minimum number of hours, thereby mandating half-day programs while allowing education authorities the option of full-day programs or both half and full-day...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I had, in fact, planned to do a Minister's statement on those rates, at one time in the House, but the WCB released the information publicly through a press release, so I didn't feel it would be appropriate any longer because the information was already out there. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will commit to have somebody from the department visit the community and the school within 30 days.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Ministers cannot overrule a regulation like this and change the situation retroactively. I am committed to looking at the situation and making a change to the regulations, to ensure that we don't run into this sort of situation again. My goal would be to establish a policy whereby travel assistance is provided on a cash basis, so that everybody can look after their own travel themselves, and we don't get into this sort of situation where we pay minute attention to where people are travelling from or how they're travelling. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I will take the question as notice. Thank you.